Chelsea Struggles Worsen. What's Next for The Blues?
Aston Villa, Bournemouth, & Tottenham Hotspur. These three clubs have shown improvement under new managers this season and their combined spend in the transfer market is $468 million. Meanwhile, another club with a new manager, Chelsea, managed to spend the same figure this summer on their own (according to Transfermarkt).
Despite their lavish spending over the summer, Chelsea sit in 10th place. 17 points off Arsenal at the top of the table and 8 points behind Spurs who hold the last European spot in fifth. Villa are currently third just four points off first place as they are in the midst of an incredible campaign under Unai Emery. As for Bournemouth, after a rocky start that saw them winless in the league until late October, Bournemouth are unbeaten in their last four matches as things begin to click under manager, Andoni Iraola. So what’s the issue at Chelsea?
Chelsea Twitter is certainly an interesting place to be right now. Tuchel & Sarri revisionism (hell even Mourinho), Poch out, Caicedo and Enzo aren’t good footballers, Sanchez praise, I could go on and on. I think the problem at the club is a two-pronged issue stemming from the manager as well as those making decisions on transfers. Now, I want to stress the fact that I’ve been impressed with the recent recruitment at Chelsea but there are some underlying issues. Let’s get into it.
Poch Has Me Worried
Football is a simple sport, no matter what anyone tells you. That being said, Poch seems to be complicating his approach. Center-backs at full-back, an unbalanced midfield, and a suicidal commitment to play out from the back despite a goalkeeper who is serially careless in his distribution.
Despite an injury crisis, there are ways to simplify the approach from a selection perspective. Of course, this is in hindsight so take it with a grain of salt.
Here’s how the club lined up against Manchester United yesterday. Practically everything I mentioned above can be highlighted here. Levi Colwill, a traditional center-back at left-back. Robert Sanchez in net, and Caicedo and Enzo in the pivot with Cole Palmer in the #10 role.
Chelsea’s lineup yesterday against Manchester United
Center-Back at Full-Back
I think Levi Colwill is an excellent player… when he’s playing left-center-back not left-back that is. His passing range is simply incredible and I think he’s the future Chelsea captain. But when you’re conceding an xG of 4.17 and allowing 28 shots against a lack-luster Manchester United side, it’s time to throw this approach in the trash.
A center-back partnership of Levi Colwill and Axel Disasi seems like the most reasonable approach. Marc Cucurella would stay at right-back out of pure necessity given the fact that Malo Gusto is still injured and Reece James isn’t 100% fit yet (which was plain as day after his second-half cameo yesterday).
So who at left-back? Ian Maatsen. Poch has been unwilling to start him in his natural position as he’s only featured mainly as an auxiliary midfielder or winger. Maatsen has to be one of the most underutilized players at Chelsea this season. His talent was on full display last season as he was a key player in Burnley’s dominant Championship campaign.
Poch doesn’t seem to have faith in him and it’s frustrating as a supporter given how talented Ian is. A back-four of Maatsen, Colwill, Disasi, & Cucurella, isn’t amazing but it certainly would’ve been better than whatever the hell we witnessed yesterday.
Also, in possession, Ian offers quite a lot. His attacking quality is excellent for a full-back as he bagged 10 goal contributions for Burnley last season in the Championship. His ability on the ball would’ve been precious yesterday as the midfield was overrun time and time again. What if, when Chelsea were in possession, Ian pushed up into the midfield alongside Caicedo to offer support and crowd that area of the pitch? Would it have helped stabilize the midfield? I think so. Plus, if Poch trusts, Colwill to play left-back, if Chelsea turn the ball over while Ian is midfield, don’t you have a center-back that can defend in wide-areas? You get the idea.
Simply balancing the back-line would’ve worked wonders for Chelsea’s build-up play in my opinion. Especially when you add such a technically gifted footballer to it in Ian Maatsen.
Goalkeeper
What is the deal with these Spanish goalkeepers at Chelsea? Sanchez in possession was horrific as he constantly misplaced passes or put midfielders checking towards him under immense pressure. At the same time, he saved a penalty and made some brilliant saves. That being said, I’d love to see him dropped. It’s time to give Djordje Petrovic a chance. The Serbian goalkeeper was brought in over the summer from MLS club New England Revolution and has yet to feature for the club.
Djordje Petrovic in net for the New England Revolution
I’m the first to admit I don’t watch much of the MLS and know little of Petrovic, but if he takes ball security seriously while in possession that’s all I want from my goalkeeper alongside solid shot-stopping.
I don’t think some miraculous saves justify Sanchez holding his spot in the starting XI. Chelsea needs stability in the back, not complete chaos. At this point, Sanchez is a liability. Good thing the club gave him a seven-year deal right? Starting Petrovic would be yet another step I’d recommend that would go a long way in simplifying Chelsea’s approach.
Unbalanced Midfield FC
With Cole Palmer at the #10, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo were left to fend for themselves in Chelsea’s midfield. You’d think that a matchup against Scott McTominay and Sofyan Amrabat wouldn’t be a challenging one but with Bruno Fernandes in the mix and Chelsea constantly turning the ball over in their own half, Caicedo and Enzo were under siege.
If anything was apparent yesterday, it was that a pivot of Enzo & Caicedo is not enough defensive coverage. If a poor United midfield was consistently creating chances against us, who’s to say other, more talented sides won’t? Yes, the club has drawn the likes of Liverpool, City, and Arsenal, this season, but the midfield has looked uninspiring despite Enzo and Caicedo being big-money signings.
Both footballers are incredibly talented, but any player is only as good as the system in which they’re playing in. Caicedo isn’t a holding midfielder and I’d argue that Enzo isn’t even a defensive one. For example, in the World Cup, Enzo played in a three-man midfield with Rodrigo De Paul and Alexis Mac Allister with all three players sharing the defensive workload but simultaneously being able to get up the pitch as they were able to cover for each other.
Enzo, the most talented play-maker of the three, was able to play in a “free” role at times as he pushed up the pitch to create chances and/or overloads or he stayed deep and served as a deep-lying playmaker while Mac Allister pushed up the pitch with De Paul mopping up defensively.
Out of possession, Enzo is vulnerable so playing with two traditional defensive midfielders whether that’s two box-to-box players or a holding midfielder and a box-to-box player is essential when fielding Enzo. There simply isn’t enough defensive coverage in midfield if you play with a traditional #10 in front of him.
Given what Enzo can offer on the ball, it seems essential that you cater to him. Enzo, Caicedo, and Palmer did not work and I don’t see it working in the future. You’re simply asking too much of Caicedo and are negating Enzo’s strong suits.
One of the reasons Villa played Manchester City off the pitch yesterday? Unai Emery’s midfield. Douglas Luiz, Boubacar Kamara, John McGinn, and Youri Tielemans formed a diamond behind the two Villa forwards and ran the match. Villa managed 22 shots while City managed only 2. Kamara and Luiz shouldered the defensive burden while Luiz was able to get forward as well and create chances as Tielemans played in more of a free role and McGinn played as a #8 on the left-hand side of the diamond.
As an un-balanced Chelsea was getting shelled in Manchester, a balanced Villa midfield bossed what was supposedly the best side in Europe.
Poch had close to no options on the bench that he could’ve used to strengthen his midfield given injuries to Romeo Lavia, Lesley Ugochukwu, Carney Chukwuemeka and Connor Gallagher being suspended but this is where my problem lies with the people at Chelsea that are in charge of Chelsea.
If getting the best out of your 130 million dollar signing in Enzo Fernandez is playing with the proper defensive coverage in midfield why are you shipping Andrey Santos out on loan knowing Lavia will be out for an extensive amount of time? The injury to Ugochukwu is now proving detrimental as Gallagher was able to shoulder some of the defensive burden to free up Enzo but with him suspended the midfield has been left brutally exposed and yesterday’s result against United is the product of that.
Even so, it remains to be seen if Poch will even acknowledge his unbalanced midfield by adding another defensive midfielder given the injuries and his constant (and costly) tinkering.
Santos is a massive miss right now. The young Brazilian midfielder was solid in pre-season and would add much-needed defensive coverage to the midfield, taking defensive responsibility off the shoulders of Caicedo while freeing up Enzo. Besides, he can’t even buy minutes at Nottingham Forest this season as after he joined, the club immediately went out and signed Ibrahim Sangare, a defensive midfielder.
You don’t spend around 255 million on your midfield duo just to hang them out to dry. Of course, injuries to Lavia and Ugochukwu are unfortunate and nobody’s fault but as I mentioned, with Lavia set to be out for an extended period of time, an injury to Ogochukwu would leave the midfield exposed. If it wasn’t for Gallagher playing well out of position, I’d imagine Chelsea would be farther down the table right now. It would’ve been great to see Andrey given a chance this season. A three-man midfield of Enzo, Caicedo, and Andrey would’ve been interesting. And more secure. One day the Chelsea will be balanced (maybe).
Goodison Next and Then…
There are other issues at the club such as our forwards not being able to finish but that’s for another time. Next up for Chelsea is a trip to Goodison to take on Everton on Sunday. Right now that feels like a pending loss. Why? Because Poch desperately needs to simplify things on the pitch. In a perfect world, this is the lineup I’d love to see tomorrow.
My ideal lineup for Sunday’s match against Everton
There isn’t anything to lose and it’s time to shake things up. After hitting what surely was rock bottom against United yesterday, can Poch turn things around? I sure as hell hope so.
