There’s a common maxim growing on football Twitter. Millennials and Gen Zs regularly refer to managers they love as having the “dawg in them”. It’s just a new way of knowing if a manager at any club has the required amount of ruthlessness to propel his players to wave after wave of success. Despite an encouraging start to his managerial career, Graham Potter has struggled in recent months, but it seems the tide is turning for the former Brighton manager. And you’d expect that it’s all rosy for stakers on real money slots online.
Being appointed immediately after fan favourite Thomas Tuchel was sacked won’t have earned him the love of the Stamford Bridge faithful, who were as connected to the German as they were in the days of the Special One. Last week against Dortmund, Stamford Bridge was rocking as fans, players, and manager danced to the same tune to see the Blues over the line in what promised to be a difficult game. The 2-time European champions had lost the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 1-0 away at the Signal Iduna Park and were expected to be given a tough game by the Germans in the reverse fixture, but Chelsea proved why there’s still life left in them, pressing high, and playing with a lot of intensity not seen before since the Graham Potter era started.
They limped out of both domestic competitions, suffering humiliation at the hands of Manchester City in both the FA Cup and League Cup, and are distant outsiders to make the Top 4 as seen when you visit this page. Winning the Champions League represents the best chance to make a return to the tournament they have won twice in their history, but it won’t come easy. They face now-familiar foes in the quarterfinals, Real Madrid, having faced them in the last two years. Although the Spanish giants decimated Liverpool in the last round, Chelsea offers a different proposition.
Los Blancos manager, Carlo Ancelotti still counts the 5-4 aggregate win over the Blues last term as the most difficult game in their run to winning the tournament last year. Gutsy performances under the lights at Stamford Bridge can firmly turn some of the fans, who have not moved on from Tuchel to Potter’s side, and ensure that the Blues are beating as one as they aim to take on Europe’s finest. Winning against Madrid would mean a semifinal tie against any of Manchester City or Bayern, tasty ties for neutrals.
Thomas Tuchel is still much loved at Chelsea because of the way he masterminded an improbable Champions League victory in 2021, and Potter would have to mirror his predecessor to finally win over all of the Chelsea fans. He looks like a pleasant personality, but if he leads Chelsea to a Champions League title, he definitely has the “dawg in him”. Time will surely tell. We will be waiting.
