AS a Chelsea manager it is not that difficult to leave £100million of talent out of your team.
But when it is your opening night and your first big call it is something of a statement.
Graham Potter walks away with a draw in his first game in charge at Chelsea
Graham Potter’s decision to drop Wesley Fofana and Kalidou Koulibaly triggered a sense of anticipation that something radical was happening.
Both new signings and both centre halves – it was a significant shake-up of the defence for starters.
Especially when Potter’s old Brighton player Marc Cucurella played as a left-sided centre back.
Reece James was employed as a right wing back with Sterling on the opposite flank. Although there was a lot of ‘wing’ and not much ‘back’ to Sterling’s game.
So much emphasis is placed on tactics in the over-analysed modern game that a positional shift of five yards for one player creates raptures and rage in equal measure among the hipsters who live for low-blocks and transitions.
Tactics make differences but there is nothing like sacking a manager to get a team to suddenly up its game.
And there was an early sign of an increase in tempo from Chelsea compared to last week’s tripe dished up at Dinamo Zagreb.
New boss Potter did not receive an official unveiling to the crowd.
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He simply stood, in black suit, using positive encouragement with his players – gone were the animated gestures of his recently departed predecessor Thomas Tuchel.
There was no sign of the regular touchline dressing downs aimed at random players either under the old head coach which often made for better viewing than some of the football.
Clearly Potter will take a carrot and not a stick approach to encouraging his players.
Even so, feisty Tuchel’s 19 months in charge did bring in a second Champions League title last year and the Chelsea fans wanted to say thanks and goodbye by chanting his name in the 21st minute.
Chelsea had registered zero shots on target at that time and forced Salzburg keeper Philipp Kohn to make only two saves by half time.
Despite the arrival of a new boss and the subsequent rise in commitment, it was still same old Chelsea until Sterling scored three minutes into the second half.
Yet still the problems and lack of confidence which has been dogging Chelsea for some time now persisted.
That is going to be a slow process for Potter to work on. But it must be his top priority.
Against a team from one of the weakest leagues in Europe they could not press home their advantage and ultimately it cost Potter a big win on debut night.
And having left two key defenders out it was one he kept on the pitch who played a key role in their undoing.
Thiago Silva’s poorly timed tackle on Salzburg’s Junior Adamu exposed the defence and in-form Noah Okafor, with four goals in four games, added a fifth with a low shot that added to the misery as it cannoned off the inside of skipper Cesar Azpilicueta’s leg on its way into the net.
Potter said: “We’re disappointed with the result. I thought the boys gave everything.
“We scored a good goal, but lost a bit in the second half but their goalkeeper has made some good saves.
“It is what it is, we have to dust ourselves down. Personality and application was good, we will get better.
“We got Raheem in one-on-one situations quite often and the goal was a good result of that.
“It’s always irritating when you concede a goal. Overall the defensive performance was quite good, it’s just the little details we will have to improve.
“It has not been easy for the boys, they have responded to us really well over the last few days and it’s a point we will have to take and get better.
“The attitude has been fantastic, no complaints apart from the fact we have not taken three points.”
Noah Okafor equalised for Salzburg
