Graham Potter accepts he is always "90 minutes away from a crisis" as Chelsea's head coach, but is shutting out the noise following Saturday's 4-1 loss to Brighton and Hove Albion.
Having gone unbeaten through his first nine games since swapping Brighton for Stamford Bridge in September, Potter suffered his first defeat as Blues boss against his old club.
Chelsea conceded twice as many goals in Saturday's resounding loss (four) as they did in their first five Premier League games under Potter (two), leaving the team open to heavy criticism.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the Champions League fixture against Dinamo Zagreb, however, Potter said he is unaffected by external opinions.
"In my job, or where I'm sat, you've got to be careful what you listen to. People can talk and say whatever. It's just part of life," he said.
"You understand at a club like this, you're only 90 minutes away from a crisis and you have to put things into perspective.
"You have to understand where you've been and what has happened, and look at it as intelligently as you can.
"Whatever people say from the outside, there's always opinions, there's always people that don't like you, there's always people that will have a different view of how the situation is.
"You can't control that. All I can do is focus on how I think, what I think and how I act, and let the noise carry."
Although Chelsea lost ground in the Premier League last time out, they are yet to taste defeat under Potter in the Champions League (W3 D1).
If the Blues avoid defeat on Wednesday, Potter will become the first Chelsea boss to go unbeaten through his first five games in the competition since Roberto Di Matteo, who led them to the trophy after doing so in the 2011-12 season.
Brentford 3-1 Southampton: Bees begin life after Toney with comfortable win
Brentford began life without Ivan Toney with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Southampton.
Bryan Mbeumo’s brace and a Yoane Wissa goal proved to be the difference between the two sides and condemned the Saints to their third straight loss since promotion back to the Premier League.
With departed striker Toney watching in the stands after his move to Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia, the hosts proved too strong for Russell Martin’s men. They created the superior chances and capitalised on an error-strewn performance from Southampton’s backline.
Mbeumo opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time before doubling the lead halfway through the second period and Wissa then got on the scoresheet moments later to continue Brentford’s strong start to the campaign. Yukinari Sugawara bagged a consolation in injury time for the Saints.
Brentford sit in fifth place ahead of the first international break, while Southampton are second-bottom of the league table with zero points.
Data debrief: Wissa continues to prove effective at home
Wissa now has five goals and two assists in his last seven matches at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Brentford have recorded consecutive home league wins for the first time since last November, and the first time in their opening home games since August 2018.
Brentford 3-1 Southampton: Bees begin life without Toney with comfortable win
Brentford began life without Ivan Toney with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Southampton.
Bryan Mbeumo’s brace and a Yoane Wissa goal proved to be the difference between the two sides and condemned the Saints to their third straight loss since promotion back to the Premier League.
With departed striker Toney watching in the stands after his move to Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia, the hosts proved too strong for Russell Martin’s men. They created the superior chances and capitalised on an error-strewn performance from Southampton’s backline.
Mbeumo opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time before doubling the lead halfway through the second period and Wissa then got on the scoresheet moments later to continue Brentford’s strong start to the campaign. Yukinari Sugawara bagged a consolation in injury time for the Saints.
Brentford sit in fifth place ahead of the first international break, while Southampton are second-bottom of the league table with zero points.
Data debrief: Wissa continues to prove effective at home
Wissa now has five goals and two assists in his last seven matches at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Brentford have recorded consecutive home league wins for the first time since last November, and the first time in their opening home games since August 2018.
Frustrated Arteta bemoans referee's inconsistency after Rice red card
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was frustrated with the officials after watching his side draw 1-1 with Brighton and Hove Albion at the Emirates Stadium, having played the majority of the second half with 10 men.
Declan Rice was sent off for a second bookable offence after 49 minutes for delaying the restart from a Brighton free-kick, leaving Arteta to question the consistency of the referee's decision-making.
“If that happens throughout the game in a consistent way that’s fine,” he told TNT Sports in a post-match interview.
“But it didn’t happen. In the first half, there were a number of occasions where they kicked the ball away and nothing happened.
“It’s inconsistency and it's in an area where it’s not critical. You made that call and you have to give a red card.
“If we have to play with 10, they have to play with 10 as well.”
Despite his annoyance at the red card, Arteta was able to find positives in the performance of his team.
Arsenal went 1-0 up after 38 minutes through Kai Havertz’s second goal of the season, before conceding a second-half equaliser following Rice’s dismissal.
“We started the game really good, created three or four big chances,” he said.
“We started the second half really good, had some good moments and momentum and obviously that decision changes the game completely.
“It was unbelievable the way the team reacted [after the goal] with 10 men, playing 48 minutes, we should have won the game.”
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler, meanwhile, had a different opinion to his counterpart.
“It was a red card, he shoots the ball away. He was wasting time,” said Hurzeler in his post-match press conference.
“If Arsenal think otherwise, there are now two opinions.”
When asked about a similar incident in which Joao Pedro seemed to avoid punishment for kicking the ball away, Hurzeler suggested the two events were not like-for-like.
“You can’t compare the two situations,” he said.
“In football, two situations are never the same. I was booked because I was complaining about the tackle against Joel [Veltman] in the first half. We can accept it’s in the Premier League, it’s a yellow card, but I think no one can complain if the referee gives the red card.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
