Graham Potter stays positive despite Chelsea defeat to Borussia Dortmund – ‘We’re a team in progress’

The Blues created a string of good chances at Signal Iduna Park, the best coming when Joao Felix struck the crossbar, but they couldn’t find a way past Gregor Kobel in the Dortmund goal.

Karim Adeyemi then produced the decisive moment with a superb individual goal on the counter-attack, putting on the afterburners to leave Enzo Fernandez in his wake before rounding Kepa Arrizabalaga to tap in.

Three of Chelsea’s January signings – Fernandez, Felix and Mykhaylo Mudryk – started in Germany, and Potter was pleased with elements of what he saw.

“It was a very strong performance, especially the second half,” the Blues boss told BT Sport.

“We created a lot of chances and efforts on goal but I am disappointed with the goal we conceded. I thought we were the dominant team in the second half. It is half-time in the tie, we have to regroup.

“It is a counter-attack from a corner, we were close to scoring ourselves. They broke on us. It is disappointing, we need to do better. Apart from that, we were really, really good, we just have to score.

“I thought we had good attacking movements, clarity in terms of how we wanted to attack and got into right areas. The attitude was really positive as well.”

Chelsea are on a poor run of form, winning just two of their last 13 games under Potter.

That streak has left them in mid-table in the Premier League and needing to overturn the tie at Stamford Bridge to progress in Europe when the second leg takes place on 7 March.

But Potter insists his side is heading in the right direction.

“You can see the supporters’ reaction, they were really positive, they can see the performance of the team, they gave us a fantastic reception,” he said.

“We are a team in progress, we know there are a lot of positive things there.

“You always need a bit of luck but you can’t wait around for luck, you have to keep working. The boys have been fantastic with their work but we are still suffering at the moment. But we will keep on working.”