Stoke City and Derby County fans must share same confusion at big Graham Potter decision | OneFootball

Stoke City and Derby County fans will be confused by Graham Potter's Sweden team selection

Stoke City and Derby County both have their Swedish shot-stoppers at the World Cup, and both sets of fanbases could make a strong argument that their player should be the one between the sticks for their country, as Graham Potter's decision has baffled everyone.

Stoke and Derby had very different seasons.

It would be the Potters who would start the campaign the better of the two sides, incidentally defeating the Rams 3-1 on the opening day at the bet365 Stadium, as Stoke found themselves sitting in 3rd after ten league games. Meanwhile, Derby won just one of their opening ten league games, with the pressure mounting on head coach John Eustace.

Fast-forward to the end of the season, Stoke finished in 17th, confirming their tenth consecutive bottom-half finish in a row, whilst Derby finished in 7th, missing out on a place in the play-offs on the final day.

Both sides managed to stay up by the skin of their teeth in 2025, and their trajectories and the overriding feelings surrounding either fanbase ever since have been almost polar opposite.

However, there is one similar feeling the Stoke and Derby fans will be sharing at the moment concerning Sweden head coach Graham Potter's big team selection decision.

Stoke City and Derby County fans will be confused as Viktor Johansson and Jacob Widell Zetterstrom's Graham Potter snub

Graham Potter is probably best-known for his excellent time with Brighton and subsequent disastrous time with Chelsea and West Ham United, but the former left-back's journey into management is far more interesting.

Potter, 51, took charge of 4th-tier Swedish outfit Ostersund in January 2011, having previously worked as a coach for the Leeds Beckett University football team, and he would take the minnows all the way to the top-flight and into Europe, most notably playing an away tie at Arsenal.

He'd return to the United Kingdom with Swansea City in July 2018 after seven years in Sweden, and has since had spells with Brighton, Chelsea, and West Ham before taking the national team job with Sweden's men's team.

Now, Potter is managing his adopted nation in the World Cup in North America, and guided them to a 5-1 victory over Tunisia in the opening group game. However, supporters of Stoke and Derby will have noticed one selection in the side that will have them puzzled.

Potter's decision to start 36-year-old Kristoffer Nordfeldt, formerly of Swansea, will confuse those who had largely expected one of Viktor Johansson or Jacob Widell Zetterstrom to be battling out for the place between the sticks.

However, it becomes abundantly clear when learnt that Potter and Nordfeldt crossed paths at Swansea, with the Swede making 22 appearances under the Englishman during the 2018/19 campaign, competing for a place in goal with Erwin Mulder.

Nordfeldt has since returned to Sweden to become AIK's number one, whilst Johansson and Zetterstrom thrive in the Championship.

Johansson would play a pivotal role in Stoke's survival in 2025, preventing as many as 10.8 goals, according to FotMob, and was on track to hit a similar number this campaign before a shoulder injury sustained against Sheffield United kept him out of action for the second half of the campaign.

Incidentally, Zetterstrom was also on his way to an excellent figure himself this season for Derby before a virus limited his minutes, ultimately finishing the campaign having prevented 5.5 goals, as per FotMob, behind only Coventry City's Carl Rushworth and Ipswich Town's Christian Walton in the rankings.

Both Swedes are widely regarded as two of the finest shot-stoppers in the entire division, and Johansson's decision to sign a new four-year deal in the Potteries this summer is viewed as a real coup for the stagnating side.

In the build-up to the World Cup, Sweden played two warm-up games against Norway and Greece, with Zetterstrom starting the first and Nordfeldt starting the second, as it would be the latter who received the nod for the opening game of the tournament.

Whether Potter is planning on mixing his options up between the sticks remains to be seen, though both Stoke and Derby fans will be disappointed and perplexed at Potter's omission of their number ones, and will be hoping to see them in action at some stage in the near future.

Viktor Johansson and Jacob Widell Zetterstrom could face an absence from the entire World Cup following Graham Potter's decision

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With Potter starting Nordfeldt in the opening game and winning comfortably, it's unlikely that he will be willing to make too many changes for their next game against the Netherlands.

There is every chance that either Johansson or Zetterstrom could feature in the group stage or beyond, if Sweden progresses, but Potter will likely have few plans to change things around between the sticks.

It will come as a huge disappointment to Johansson and Zetterstrom, who both could have very easily found themselves as the first-choice option under someone else.

Stoke and Derby fans can take solace that their keepers face less threat of injury during the tournament, but there will no doubt be a feeling of disappointment throughout both sets of fanbases at Potters' decision.