As the dust continues to settle on the first defeat in 10 games under Graham Potter, our head coach is ensuring he has a clear head before delving deeply into what did not go right during Saturday’s game at Brighton.

There were understandably emotions involved for Potter on his return to the South Coast club whom he guided up the Premier League table during his time there. The 4-1 result was one of joy for his former supporters but for Chelsea, it is now important to ensure all possible lessons are learnt.

‘It's a case of analysing the game, being calm, being fair,’ Potter declares.

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‘It's not necessarily about the players, it is collectively all of us, including myself - how we can improve, what we can do better.

‘It's not a disgrace to lose at Brighton. You can see the opponent was very motivated and they've got some really good players. We got off to a bad start, it was not a pleasant afternoon, but you have to have that sometimes if you want to make progress.

‘If you think the line is going to go straight up, that’s impossible. That team that you saw out there for Brighton wasn't the team that was there three years ago. It is a process and there is pain that you have to go through, and you have to keep trying to improve.

‘Emotionally it's tough, so you have to make sure you have a clear head when you're analysing it,’ Potter added. ‘I know the quality of the Brighton team we were playing against and I know that I've never seen the atmosphere like that in three-and-a-half years when I've been there. So clearly there was a motivated team and club and that's okay, and for whatever reason, I'm not throwing anybody under the bus, we weren't quite there.

‘I could use lots of excuses, the amount of games, the Champions League effort which is amazing, six games away in nine, but they’re reasons, they're not their excuses. The boys need support, they need help and that's my job now.’

And, as Potter explains, his job is also to look at himself and decisions he has made.

‘Whenever you learn, whenever you try to master something, whenever you are trying to get better at it, you need to sometimes have a bit of a step back. You have to suffer or you have to go through a bad experience to then grow and be better. That's how I see it.

‘I get why people want a simple answer but it's always quite complex. There's always lots of things. But the most important thing is for me to start with myself and go okay, how can I do better?’