Joe Cole identifies the Chelsea player under Graham Potter “whose motivation may slide”

Joe Cole believes Graham Potter could face problems down the line keeping all of his Chelsea players happy and feels the likes of Hakim Ziyech could lose motivation over time.

The Blues booked their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League on Tuesday night after a 2-1 victory over RB Salzburg, with Mateo Kovacic and Kai Havertz both on the scoresheet in Austria.

When Potter took over, Chelsea had just one point from their first two matches but, with AC Milan beating Dinamo Zagreb, will go into the last 16 as group winners with a game to spare.

The west Londoners have also enjoyed a resurgence in the Premier League and everything appears to be rosy in the Stamford Bridge camp right now, though ex-Chelsea winger Cole fears some players at his old club might start to get restless.

Speaking on BT Sport after Chelsea’s win over Salzburg, Cole said: ‘It’s the honeymoon period at the moment.

‘Every player who’s been out in the cold, they’ve seen Kepa come back in and now everyone in that squad – young players, old players – they feel like they’ve got the opportunity to get back into the fold and become a big player at Chelsea.

‘So everyone is motivated. That wanes after time. And he [Potter] will know that.

‘After two or three months, Hakim Ziyech for instance, he might be one – I’m only using him because he hasn’t featured as much as the others.

‘But his motivation might start to slip and then how do you manage that player then? All the pats on the back and everything might not be the right course of action.

‘But I’m sure Graham Potter will address that when it comes.

‘Everything is going so well at the moment you’re almost looking at things down the line that could possibly go wrong and how he would react.

‘But he’s ticked every box so far. All the players are at it and the garden is rosy at the moment.’

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