In Part 1 we focused only on defence since due to Maresca’s bilateral inverting each position in it had at least one other role that could be played there. The rest of the team, which will be covered in this Part, is much less complex from that aspect. Here only the wings can have multiple position/roles – wide wingers and inverted wingers – the former of which is the Maresca standard and the latter of which is the opposite. Inverted wingers are in synergy with ‘advanced full backs’, another role Maresca doesn’t really like and will be discussed here.
Since this piece is being written just after the game against Flamengo, which heavily (and surprisingly) included advanced full backs (of all roles!), it is curiously significant to mention it. So what did actually happen, apart from us losing that game in familiar, sorry fashion?
Maresca actually advanced not one, but both full backs (Cucu, Gusto), which was an absolute first in his Chelsea stint, and consequently tucked both wingers in, ie. inverted them (Neto, Palmer). We played in an attacking 4-6 split (4 defenders / 6 attackers), which we previously only did vs 5 at-the-back teams, whereas ‘defenders’ positioned in a 2-2 shape and attackers formed a 4-2 with full backs holding the width, Enzo and Palmer playing where they normally play (half spaces) and Neto joining Delap up front.
When after the game Maresca said he “tried something new for the next season”, this is what he was talking about. Basically, this is a new attacking set up that he is thinking of using against 5 at-the-back teams which we faced, and often struggled against, all too many times last season. Normally against such opponents we’d set up in a 3-1-5-1 (also called the 3-diamond-3) where one pivot player would simply advance a bit higher than normally as to overload their back 5 with 6 players (this is the aim with this new set up too). The problem? – Well, Flamengo didn’t play 5 at the back, which makes (the timing of) this move a bit peculiar...
Anyway, this was a digression, but I felt a necessary one as it gives us a bit of perspective into some of the position/roles (advanced FB, inverted winger) that will be discussed in this piece, or better said, the odds they will be played – perhaps more often this season than the last?
Advanced LB
Although this is Cucurella’s worst role of the 3 possible ones (this one, inverted FB, defensive FB), he’s improved so much in all aspects that I now think he can adequately perform here too. Still, if we planned to do this all the time, Cucu would absolutely not be the ideal LB and we’d likely need to find an upgrade or least a young and talented competitor (no need to point out the SDs would land on the latter, right?). Luckily, ‘all the time’ will not happen with Maresca, but the Flamengo game has perhaps shifted that frequency from ‘almost never’ to ‘sometimes’, which isn’t insignificant – In the „Hato or ISS or Veiga“ trilemma from Part 1 we’d now pretty much exclude the latter, while also favoring the former as an already solid option (perhaps even better than Cucu) in cases we needed to do this.
Verdict
The (merely) solid 1st option: Cucurella
The solid+ 2nd option: Hato, if he comes
The unknown 2nd option: Samuels-Smith, if Hato doesn’t come
The forgotten option: Chilwell (would be great for this, but no way he stays only for the off chance he gets to play it several times throughout the whole season)
Needs to be mentioned, we may strongly regret selling Maatsen and Hall if this becomes a more frequently played role, particularly the latter. Can we still get Hall and Livramento back from Newcastle? Pretty please?
Advanced RB
In Part 1 I’ve practically written Gusto off, but if we’re gonna do this, we will need him after all. Yes, this would have been James’ perfect position/role in a perfect world where he never started breaking down every 10 sprints or so. And now it isn’t anymore. If, and that’s a big if, we manage to stabilize his fitness and play him here for a dozen games a season without much risk, that would be fantastic – I dare not hope for more! In the mean time, we’re stuck with Gusto who’s looking increasingly like a shell of a player that was in contention for our player of the season only a year ago, playing in this exact role.
Verdict
The originally strong, but now plummeting 1st option: Gusto
The world class, but extremely risky option: James
CM that remains CM
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Here’s where we are strongest – and to a ridiculous level. Caicedo is our (2nd) best player. Enzo is our (2nd) captain and quite good on his own (and improving still!). Lavia is brilliant when fit. Santos was perhaps the best young midfielder in Europe last season. And on top of that, we added a young Dario Essugo too! Who convinced that poor boy he will get enough minutes this season? His hopes for minutes (Lavia’s and Santos’ too but to a lesser extent), lie mostly in the expectation that Enzo and Caicedo will play a significant chunk of time in other positions - Enzo will (see next) - Caicedo less so (see above), but he will too. Santos, unlike Lavia, has a bit of versatility in him, but this is the position he prefers.
Lavia could theoretically beat Enzo to the starting spot (Caicedo, no chance), but that will require us inverting a full back into the attacking midfield instead of the pivot as he’s really not an attacking midfielder. In practice, this means Lavia is in rotation with our full backs! We’ve already seen that with James at the end of the season and that will likely continue with Cucurella and Santos too.
Verdict
The cheat-code 1st option: Caicedo
The strong 2nd option: Lavia
The strong 3rd option: Enzo
The strong 4th option: Santos
The solid (but also unknown) 5th option: Essugo
Seems dire for Lavia and Santos, but in reality due to Maresca’s system, we will actually play Caicedo + 3 of Enzo, Lavia, Santos, Cucurella, and James (with at least 1 of the latter 2) which isn’t so bad. In fact, it’s a proper, world class rotation. Essugo, though, is likely here just to add to numbers as Lavia is often injured – if gets any fitter this year Essugo’s path is as blocked as they come.
CM that becomes AM
Contrary to what I predicted last year, Enzo has acclimatized to this role rather well. Although I still sometimes miss him dictating from the deep, his positioning higher up does put him closer to that final pass he likes to find. More significantly, his newly developed tendency to crash the box has starting reaping some serious rewards in terms of goals scored – like a proper blue no. 8!
Apparently, Andrey Santos is also an avid box crusher. He tends to score quite a lot of goals while his general versatility and well-rounded quality should allow him to play this advanced role well enough. Important to remind here is that this is not actually his best position as he prefers himself as a 5/6 (his own recent words). Be as it may, he will undoubtably be Enzo’s greatest competitor in this position/role.
The non-ideal 3rd option falls perfectly to Caicedo who is just that, but not because he wouldn’t do all that well, but rather because we’d prefer to have him deeper and disrupt opposition attacks. Last year, many predicted he will play here while leaving Enzo deeper as the DLP (Ndidi/Winks comparison), but it never made too much sense to me — at least I got that one right! Nevertheless, as good as Caicedo is, I have no doubts he could fill in here if needed. Lavia and Essugo, on the other hand, are simply not advanced midfielders and are unlikely to be played as such.
Verdict
The strong 1st option: Enzo
The solid (perhaps strong) 2nd option: Santos
The non-ideal 3rd option: Caicedo
AM that remains AM
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We’ve got Palmerinho here, so no worries, right? Well, the boy needs cover. For the past season we’ve been blessed cursed with too many options at 10 which resulted in Félix and Nkunku feeling unused as they are better than being just ‘cover’ – or at least their reputation (and wages) says so. Similarly, Dewsbury-Hall was too semi-ostracized, but that was mostly because he just wasn’t good enough. All 3 of them are bound to leave this summer so where does that leave us?
... In pursuit of new (market) opportunities, as our SDs would probably say. But, who would be crazy enough to come to Chelsea and play second fiddle to Palmer? The only correct answer is – someone who can also play elsewhere! Meaning someone who’d normally get minutes in other position(s) and play at 10 whenever Palmer is resting. Notably, same answer is applicable to the question „who’d come here to be our 3rd striker?“ or „how would we be able to satisfy 3 strikers?“ – Versatility, baby!
We have been widely linked to a number of such players, most exciting of which is Palmer’s pal Morgan Rogers (the supposed inventor of the “cold celebration”™), who could *maybe* play as a left winger too, but that will depend on Maresca’s proclivity for more attacking fluidness in the next season (which some have been predicting to happen) – whether as in game rotations with Cucurella or perhaps starting Cucu in an advanced LB role (don’t get your hopes up for this one). Actually, don’t get your hopes up for Rogers at all as he’s unlikely to be available, likely to cost an arm and a leg, and thus unlikely to be of firm interest to our (all of a sudden) stingy owners.
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Those that are more realistic include our old target Kudus (do we really need yet another left-footed attacker?) and João Pedro who, should be noted, checks both unpopular roles mentioned above – 3rd option for a 9 and Palmer’s cover at 10 – and is therefore a theoretically ideal solution. The practical quality remains in question, though, but I know him as a talented forward who may yet improve. Having been made available by Brighton, he will not be as expensive as they usually sell, so I’d take him.
Ekitiké is another player touted to be an “all round attacker” of interest to us, but I’m not certain if he can actually be a 10 (or a winger) and he would surely be too expensive to add to a rotation with Jackson, Delap and Palmer... To be perfectly transparent, I’d 100% take him as I see a sensational talent in there, but my preference is another (irrelevant) matter.
Of the already available players there’s Enzo, who definitely belongs to the category of “non-ideal” solutions in terms of playing as an out-and-out 10, but having improved markedly in this position (in possession he does play here), he is an option. Him playing here would at least release the numerical load off the midfield pivot.
And then there’s Estêvão. He will almost certainly be a right winger at first (and maybe even forever), but there’s been reports claiming he prefers to play as a 10 and that our SDs have promised they see him as a 10 – and those two wouldn’t lie to the poor kid just to snatch him up, would they?? Aaanyway (insert Loki meme), we have no idea how well he will fare in his first season in the Premier League. Whereas we’re getting overly used to seeing a 17 y/o freak tear it up at the highest level, it is important to remind that Yamal is an absolute outlier – Estêvão is much, much more likely to follow a career trajectory of his compatriots Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo who both took some time to adapt to European football after coming from Brazil so young (and let’s hope he does, considering how good those two ended up being!).
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Verdict
The brilliant 1st option: Palmer
The solid 2nd option: Nkunku or Felix or Dewsbury-Hall
The possible 2nd option: Rogers or Kudus or João Pedro or...
The non-ideal 3rd option: Enzo
The unknown option: Estêvão
Perhaps, if the kid is good enough from the kickstart, we could/should make do here without a new signing. Palmer will play as much as he can, Estêvão will love every opportunity he gets in this position and Enzo sometimes playing here will mean many more minutes to share among the young beasts in our undisputed best position (CM). Hence, we will probably wait it out and see how little Willian is looking and maybe make a move at the end of the summer window.
*Same as Anselmino, Paez deserves a mention, but is going to be loaned out so he’s not an option this season.
Wide LW
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Here it is, the bogey position. Apart from the young Tyrique George, we simply don’t have anyone natural here now after Sancho left, Mudryk was banned, and Sterling completely fell apart. While Tyrique has taken his chances somewhat well (never forget the goal at Fulham that changed our season!), he’s still not preferred to the left-footers Madueke and Neto who are regularly picked above him despite their markedly worse performances on this side.
The transfer market is the inevitable solution here and we’re continuing negotiations for Jamie Gittens of Man City Dortmund as I’m writing this, with the deal expected to be agreed sooner or later. This is good, provided the price is not hefty, since Gittens it truly stylistically perfect for Maresca who likes his wingers to stay wide, isolated 1v1 vs opposition full backs and take them on whatever chance they get. Of our wingers, only Madueke (partially) does this and the 20 y/o Gittens is already among the leading European wingers in stats like dribbles and progressive carries.
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The alternatives are also known; Malick Fofana and Alejandro Garnacho. The latter you probably know much about and the former seems to be quite similar to Gittens, but maybe a bit cheaper. Considering how thin we are in this position, it is entirely possible we end up buying 2 of these 3 young wingers, but I’m not sure how necessary that is with Geovany Quenda coming in next year. Not to mention George deserves more minutes, if he’s staying (he seems to be).
I believe the best solution here is to acquire a versatile attacker (alongside one of the 3 above) who can cover some other position/role too and give us more options. Rogers and Ekitiké are often mentioned as such, but their proclivities for playing in this position remain merely theoretical. João Pedro is more of a 9/10, whereas I’m gonna flip if we get another left footer in Kudus.
Verdict
The strong 1st option: No one *sigh*
The future 1st option: Gittens or Fofana or Garnacho
The non-ideal 2nd options: Madueke and Neto
The developing 3rd/4th option: George
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So yeah, it’s not looking great here. Even if when we get one of those 3, they’re all just... projects. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them becomes world class in a few years (even Garnacho who’s criminally underrated), but I’d be just as unmoved if they flop, wherever they end up.
It’s the reality of our transfer strategy. Acquiring many young potentials in each position, amplifying the chance at least one of them turns great. In dire contrast to positions like central midfield, we simply haven’t had much luck in this position (Mudryk), even with the targets we haven’t been able to lure (Barcola, Doué, Williams). Those 3 at least somewhat prove our scouting is not at all bad, hence we might give the 3 new ones (Gittens, Fofana, Garnacho) some credit.
It will still be far from ideal since a strong ready made player might be what’s stopping us from making the step up. But unfortunately, we’re completely excluded from any stories around the likes of Leão, Rodrygo or Williams (for better or worse). I’m still lowkey hoping we decide to pounce on Barcola if he becomes available again, but I’m not betting any money on that...
Wide RW
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It’s much better on this side, not least because our two remaining senior wingers are both left-footed. They’ve both been getting plenty of opportunities on the left side, as previously discussed, but they’ve been significantly better on their ‘natural’ side. It’s worth pointing out Neto has still got a similar number of games played in his career on the left compared to right, but Maresca seems to have scrapped that idea recently and now favors Madueke on the left, which was previously unseen. This means Neto is currently the no. 1 right winger, albeit neither is particularly great.
The junior wingers are what makes this position an exciting one. Quenda, who’s been playing mostly on the left in his senior career (which makes his preferred side unknown as of yet), is coming next summer, while Estêvão, who’s been discussed in the ‘AM’ section, is coming after the CWC and will hope to make this position his own as soon as he can – and that might not be so soon.
The non-ideal option is, of course, Cole Palmer. True, he can be very impactful on the wide right, but he can venture there from nominal AM during the play – and he will likely be allowed (and perhaps encouraged) to do that much more this season (we’ve already seen a lot of that in the latest few games) – especially if he’s playing next to Estêvão who will love the interchanging play between the two of his best positions. The in possession part is not the reason why this is ‘non-ideal’ for Palmer, but the out of possession tasks of tracking back that come with playing on the wings. Maresca has rightfully made it a priority his best player’s stamina is saved from that, while also ensuring he’s better positioned for central high press in which he thrives.
Also, we’d much prefer if he would drift inside from the nominal RW, but that’s covered in the next section.
Verdict
The solid 1st option: Neto
The solid 2nd option: Madueke
The non-ideal 3rd option: Palmer
The unknown option: Estêvão (could possibly become 1st or 2nd during the season)
Inverted RW
Another position/role whose existence depends on Maresca’s willingness to play with an advanced full back, and that hasn’t been high in his first season. Palmer is the obvious no. 1 option here, which would fit him better than hugging the line, but that still comes with the aforementioned downside of out of possesion tracking back obligations. Nevertheless, he’s played this exact role in his first season under Poch to fantastic effect, but his deterioration in the subsequent season under Maresca has been extremely overblown and the blame for it unjustly put on Maresca’s shoulders. In fact, under him he’s been playing in the exact same position in possession as he played under Poch – The RAM, or the right half space (RHS)! The only difference is out of possession, but that part is actually to Palmer’s benefit rather than detriment, as previously explained. What happened is Palmer simply started missing his (still just as frequent) chances and his finishing confidence has dipped bit by bit – and he still hasn’t got out of it considering the miss against LAFC the other day. Surely that will end very soon, while on the bright side his all round play has returned to the mean (never been gone as much as people claimed) and his underlying numbers are still excellent.
That was a digression. The only other option here is Estêvão. There’s no one else, but there need not be since this is not going to be a commonly used position/role (in Part 1 we established 1-2 players per such role is enough).
Verdict
The brilliant 1st option: Palmer
The unknown 2nd option: Estêvão
Inverted LW
We don’t have this, plain and simple. And we won’t have it unless we splash cash on someone like Rogers. Earlier we had both Félix and Nkunku, which was a complete overkill considering we didn’t even play with this position/role and thus they were forced to compete for minutes with Palmer at their best position (10) and Jackson at their less than ideal position (9). The consequences were imminent, they’re both now on the way out and have been for about half a season already. I still think Maresca could/should have done better to integrate these 2 guys and advance a full back now and then, but considering how lacklustre they both turned out to be (which is probably linked, in fairness), he might have done us a favor. Also, although I disliked it, I can respect he wanted to drill the team in his preferred set ups and not waste much time, or risk many games, playing in a set up we won’t use much.
The Flamengo game might have changed things. Pedro Neto played this role (and scored) however he didn’t invert into attacking midfield but striker. That isn’t entirely dissimilar, but is a significant difference for players such as him who wouldn’t be all too comfortable in half spaces, but would enjoy playing off another striker and trying to run in behind. Good such options would again be Félix and Nkunku, but that ship has sailed. Of the transfer targets, I can easily imagine João Pedro and Ekitiké here. In fact, I love it – they would also provide us with that ‘versatile’ attacker we’re reportedly looking for who can also cover the no. 9 and 10 positions.
Verdict
The only option: Neto (but only LW->ST, not really LW->AM)
The exciting possible options: Ekitiké and João Pedro
Striker
Although I’d be hard pressed to reject an opportunity to sign a Vic(k)tor (which isn’t going to happen anyway), I’m personally, unlike many, quite satisfied with Jackson and Delap for this season. Neither is a blockbuster striker (yet), but they’re both very good and very talented young forwards who will yet improve. There’s an unironically good chance at least one of them becomes world class somewhere in the future. They will share good minutes in this position and we will likely feel a massive difference after having practically only one striker in Jackson for 2 seasons – a difference on both the team and Jackson himself who suffered too heavy a burden for an undeveloped player and character that he is*.
*Written before the Flamengo game... and aged quite well. I still think think he should stay, however.
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Guiu should go on a loan with McKenna and Ipswich calling (I’m still waiting on Lamps and Coventry), Nkunku is as good as gone, and we’re probably not getting a 3rd striker in. If we do, I don’t think Jackson’s time is up (nor should it be) as the new player will likely be someone versatile and not dependent exclusively on striker minutes, as discussed in previous sections.
What might get us a 3rd striker in the end, is if we don’t abandon the Flamengo experiment with 2 forwards at the same time (albeit one would start off as a winger, probably left). Maresca has already (affirmatively!) answered the question whether we might see Jackson and Delap play together, and he was probably referring to this option. Think about it, when we’re playing vs 3 CBs, a 4-2 attacking formation with 2 forwards may be more dangerous than 5-1 with 1 striker. Also, I’ve always felt 3 players in attacking midfield was a bit too crowdy... It just makes quite a bit of sense, doesn’t it?
*Mind you, we do not need to advance both full backs to achieve this formation – just one.
The back up option, unless that 3rd striker is b(r)ought, will continue to be Neto, especially if Noni or Estêvão start pushing him away from the RW, and most significantly during AFCON when Jackson will be away (a pretty tough set of fixtures in that period!). At other times, barring injury and the Flamengo experiment becoming the Plan A, I don’t think we’ll see much of him in this position. Or Palmer for that matter, even while Enrique and Dembélé have brought the false 9 back into fashion (with spectacular effect).
Verdict
The strong 1st option: Jackson
The strong 2nd option: Delap (might become 1st)
The non-ideal 3rd option: Neto
The wildcard 4th option: Palmer
The possible new option: Ekitiké or João Pedro
Goalkeeper
You probably noticed I’ve skipped the goalkeepers. Since this is a „squad audit“, I will give it a mention, but I’d honestly rather not since 1) it does not influence other positions hence there’s not much tactics to talk about, 2) it is rather depressing how shitty this position has come off for us considering the investment and the sheer number of acquisitions in it and, most importantly, 3) each goalkeeper that we have (including the one we might get) has got a massive question mark plastered on their face:
Will we end up with Maignan after all, and if yes will he get back to his best or continue as per recent form and inevitably disappoint us?
Will Jörgensen be able to fulfill whatever potential the SDs saw in him (and we haven’t seen much of) or will they have already given up on him and is loan bound?
Will Petrović actually get sold or will he get another chance to prove he’s our best GK as many (most) now think he is?
Will Penders go on another loan as expected or is he already ready to be our no. 1 (unlikely)?
Will they finally give up on Sánchez or are they in fact, against all odds and public/fan opinion, right to persist with him due to his (admittably undeniable) attributes and despite his (pathologically constant) brainfarts?
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Verdict
I honestly have no idea. Brace yourselves for a lot of ‘probablies’:
I’d probably prefer we get Maignan (at least we’d have a safe pair of feet, if not hands). Otherwise it’s probably best to try Petrović again but that is seemingly not happening. I remain unconvinced of Jorgensen, but he was probably too expensive for a goalkeeper to be loaned out after just one season (and now we ain’t getting anything close to what we paid for him, unlike for Petro). Penders should probably not be put under the pressure of a Chelsea no. 1, even if he is developmentally close to it already – let’s not ruin the lad! In the end, the best possible goalkeeper would probably be Sánchez minus the brainfarts, but that seems as likely to ever exist as a chimp with a PhD. So yeah, get rid (please).
All in all, quantitavely we will obviously be fine as at least 2 of these will stay, and perhaps even 3 since we let Betinelli go to City (why did we do that again?). But qualitatevily? – I’m worried, folks. And you are too. This one and LW are the positions I’m most worried about. Actually ‘at all worried about’ since I’m quite happy about our options at ST and CB (which some are not) and optimistic about RW in long term (little Willian, Quenda).
... And, breathe.
Below is my ideal depth line up for the next season. Apart from being numerically satisfactory (on the upper end with 26 including GKs), it checks all positions/roles as we’ve discussed.
*Oh, and add Ekitiké instead of Rogers/J.Pedro if we’re really gonna field 2 strikers from time to time.
**Perhaps remove Essugo, not sure if there’s space for him tbh.
*Images were created using buildlineup.com and chosen11.com