Potter lived in Sweden for several years when he coached Östersunds SK and speaks decent Swedish. But the language is a bit rusty after the last few years back home in England.
He admits it.
Politeness towards the Swedish people and respect for the fact that he now works as the Swedish national team captain are set against the importance of being understandable.
“My ears hurt”
I noticed that you had a bit of an earache at the last press conference so I thought I would be able to give you a bit more detailed answer now. I can speak Swedish but my answers won't be as good then, we can probably all agree on that. So there is a balance there between giving you as good and detailed answers as possible and speaking Swedish. Now I thought that we are in Spain and the sun is shining so we will go in English, he says.
The representative, Dane Jon Dahl Tomasson, spoke only English and all communication, internally and to the media, was conducted in English.
Graham Potter has no problem with questions from the media being asked in Swedish. Or speaking Swedish, but sometimes the vocabulary is not enough.
At the press conference on Wednesday, when he released the squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Switzerland (Saturday) and Slovenia (Tuesday), Potter spoke only Swedish.
English during training
What language is spoken between him and the players? When Potter led his first national team training session, at the La Quinta Football Center in Marbella, he gave instructions in English.
A few "good" comments were also heard.
A large part of the squad is participating in the collective training. Alexander Isak is part of that group. The rest are doing a recovery session.
All players are participating, no one is injured, says Petra Thorén, the national team's press officer.
