“After the start we had, we had every chance to get three points towards a place in the Champions League, but again we are talking about another defeat and we must be disappointed. When you have this type of situation, you have to manage the game better and you must be able to use experience and maturity to get three points.”

So said Antonio Conte immediately after our loss to Manchester United, the second costly concession to a team after taking a one goal lead in a matter of days and in a manner that is fast becoming second nature to us. The first against Barca, albeit not ending in defeat, told a different story in terms of planning and execution, yet the feeling at the end of both was the same - opportunity missed when well within our grasp. Indeed, Conte described the draw at the Bridge as 'almost perfect' which it may have been, but that's no real consolation, nor no fault of Antonio or the false 9 system he deployed to counter the opposition's passionless possession play. I use the words 'passionless possession' advisedly, because some would say that 70-odd percent of it can never be described in this way for fear of upsetting the staticians, let alone the purists. But let's not be too puritanical about the Catalan's approach and instead admire the control, the denial of time on the ball to others and the maximum amount being given on that selfsame sphere to the best user of it on the planet, Lionel Messi. It is he who provides the passion, the rest is just a means to that end product he provides, those game-winning (or saving) goals. Make no mistake, Andreas Christensen made his as a result of repetitive watchfulness syndrome and, forever having to predict the little man's movement, he switched off with the ball at his own feet for once, thereby turning the perfect into the imperfect in the blink of an eye.

Thankfully, at least the vast majority of pundits had the good grace to see the bigger picture for what it was, a Conte masterplan that suffered the single sling and arrow of outrageous fortune, even though most then went completely overboard in their praise of Messi who, for great swathes of play, was made to look mere mortal. Indeed, on BT it was left to Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard and our own Frank Lampard to pinpoint the real hero for Barca, their defensive midfielder, Sergio Busquets, who set a season record by completing 128 passes in the game, Paulino having previously completed 111 against Olympiacos. All well and good, I hear you say, but up until the Andreas fault it was much ado about nothing and I was inclined to agree until I learnt of the most telling statistic of the night - Busquets was the most passed to player, his team-mates found him 119 times, trusting him more than any other to make himself available.

In short, he does the donkeywork in a team defying that description His passes against us were 139 in total and a check of the successful ones made in this season's Champions League tells you not only all you need to know about the player but also everything about those who seek to challenge him for the top spot:-

S Busquets (Barcelona) 612

M Verratti (PSG) 595

E Banega (Seville) 593

N Otamendi (Man City) 586

I Rakitic (Barcelona) 483

S Umtiti (Barcelona) 477

Fernandinho (Man City) 465

S Ramos (Real Madrid) 421

T Kroos (Real Madrid) 420

D Alves (PSG) 415

Not a single Chelsea, ManU, or Spurs player in the top ten suggests that the Barca stratagem is not for us or them, yet here we were seemingly trying to negate the keep ball in a typically Barca way, one that Jose or Potch would never countenance, though this in part is due no doubt to both teams having focal points up front that are hardly ever going to bow to falsehood. Man City under Pep influence, on the other hand, have two pass masters, though somewhat surprisingly Kevin De Bruyne isn't the man for this particular job in their set-up. He, we must assume, falls into the same category as a Christian Erikson, Paul Pogba or Cesc Fabregas in that they have better things to do on the park than fetch and carry. But this caveat does not apply to Nemanja Matic or N'Golo Kante and they don't feature either, even being out-passed by Samuel Umtiti and umpteen other defenders. Only Marco Verratti, Ever Banega, Ivan Rakatic and Tony Kroos are usual suspects where they should be in the frame and gameplan of their respective teams and how we could have done with someone of similar game-managing ability in the closing stages of the first half, then in second against United.

With all this in mind and somewhat belatedly, where does all this information get us in assessing the pros and cons of having this type of player command a place in your team, or even a preponderance of them if you're a Guardiola-phile or ply your trade in La Liga? Well, firstly, I'd like to think Chelsea could find room for at least one trusted watercarrier when the occasion demanded and that may go some way towards explaining our supposed interest in Verrati a season or two back. Secondly, it only takes a cursory glance at that list to confirm a shortage of supply with virtually all the star names bar Verratti happy to be where they are, perhaps through to retirement. Clearly, the Juve Andreas Pirlos and Barca Yaya Toures of this world do not grow on trees and even if they did there is every likelihood they would now be as unsung of their specialist skills as these two were lauded for them back in their 2007/2011 pomp.

Nowadays it is, of course, more a role for the bland workaholic than the blindingly gifted, but its importance cannot be denied if you want to play in a manner that will both control and kill a game according to circumstance. That is what Barcelona did so effectively under Guardiola and, looking at the stats above, he now seeks to do again with Man City using Otamendi and Fernandinho, thus rendering Yaya surplus to requirements and, lest we forget, mirroring Busquets ousting of the same player from Pep's team nearly a decade ago. But that is the nub of the matter... do we as Chelsea fans really want our team to excerise this amount of control as part of a Conte 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 system, or are we going to accept paucity of possession as a fact of Man City modern day living? Personally, I would like the versatility a Marco Verratti would give us, but have to accept as laudable our newfound status as a club exhibiting self-restraint in a transfer market showing the first signs of complete and utter madness. Such a pity we have not seen fit to cultivate this type of player within our youth development squads over the years.

Except that we have. I count as many as four, with ages ranging from 20yrs down to 16yrs, all with differing abilities that could see each and every one of them cement a place in the first team squad over the next five years. Here are their names, together with the club's offial website [rather understated] resumee in each case and beginning with the only current first team squad player:-

Kyle Scott (20) joined the club as an Under-10 from Southampton. A technical player who is adept in a number of midfield positions, he made his youth team debut as an Under-16 at the start of the 2013/14 season.

Mason Mount (19) has been training at the club since he was six years old and signed at the Under-8 age group. He has always been an attacking midfielder, capable of playing in any of the central midfield roles and is particularly strong at going from box-to-box.

Jacob Maddox (19) signed from Bristol City at the end of his Under-14 year. He is an attacking midfield player who can play in the ‘number 10’ position but mainly features slightly deeper and enjoys running forward with the ball at his feet. 

Billy Gilmour (16) is a midfielder who joins us this summer from Glasgow Rangers, where he has been since the age of eight. He is a technical individual with good game intelligence and awareness who creates plenty of goals and chances for his team-mates.

Probably the nearest thing to a home grown finished article, Kyle Scott has received the added boost of a debut against Hull in the FA Cup and an endorsement from Conte who referred to him Ampadu, Sterling, Hudson-Odoi and Chalobah as 'the future of the club' though just how this pans out should Antonio leave is another matter - nobody wants a Pogba situation in which Scott pops off to Juve for a pittance and is then bought back for a paultry £93 million under the pretence that his Italian finishing school made the whole process a viable proposition. To my mind young Kyle is already more steeped in our style of play than the prodigal Pogba is in Jose's latest creation - a technocratic time lord who, as a team mate, wants the ball when you dont and as an opponent is always in your face when your are after a bit of look-at-me time on the ball yourself. Having grafted for the likes of Dominic Solanke,Tammy Abraham, Ike Ugbo and even the 16yr-old Daishawn Redan, he is a unique link to past, present, returning and future strikers as well as those defenders and midfielders praised by Conte and referred to above. All that is lacking is, perhaps, that eye for a goal or a specialist free-kick attribute that others have cultivated, but....

… Mason Mount has both. Currently on loan at Vitesse Arnhem, he captained the Youth Cup side to a fourth consecutive success last year, netting a hat-trick in the fourth-round win at Birmingham and he also set up the winner in the final as England won the Under-19 European Championship. Doesn't have the street[Dennis]wise mentality and tackling ability of Scott and his rivals for a first team spot are more likely to be the faster-tracked Casey Palmer and Lewis Baker, but he is versatile enough to set his sights on the pass-master role if the competition further forward proves too great. Conversely, Jacob Maddox prefers to make runs from deeper positions and, of the three, carries the ball forward with the most confidence. This leaves Billy Gilmour who, somewhat stragely, is the most welknown of all the contenders, being a Scotland Under-17 international at the tender age of sixteen and our first signing from north of the border for a number of years. It would be a miracle if he were to 'do an Ampadu' and move ahead of all his previously mentioned rivals for this passing post, but he is by far and away the best creator of the bunch and, as any multi-talented midfielder will tell you, assists have taken on a whole new and improved persona in the modern game.

And there you have them - the future four who could all provide the platform to play Pep at his own game over the next 5 years. But, as we have seen in the last two matches, the problem is the present and having identified game management as the issue to be resolved, how does Conte deal with it right here, right now? Ironically, Jose was faced with a similar situation when the so called crowd-pleasing Paul Pogba went off the boil a few weeks ago and, breaking a habit of a lifetime in football, the Special One turned to Scott McTominay instead, which was a bit like dumping your dabbing, high maintenance wag for the younger, gangly girl next door. Yet it has worked and, as yesterday's game proved, they can now go around quite happily as a threesome as though there was nothing unusual going on at all. Time to think outside the box too, Antonio... just outside it, where the control can start and those possession stats can be improved out of all recognition. 

Edited February 26, 20188 yr by Dorset

If you honestly want us to play these youth players in such vital positions and also replicate a style in which these positions are necessary then LVG should be brought in to replace Conte. He is the only manager who will attempt to do both of those things.

Well, most of the midfielders in that list there is hardly unsung. Almost all of them are considered among the best midfielders in the world.

And I think you are overestimating Kyle Scott severely.  He’s not that good and Paul Pogba was already considered one of the better players in Serie A at his age.
He’s never been particularly eyecatching for our reserves either and haven’t even been a regular for USA’s youth national teams.

The others are clearly bigger talents, but i’ll be pleasantly surprised if any of them turn out to be Chelsea-players.

To compete with the best we need to spend money and a lot of it.

6 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Well, most of the midfielders in that list there is hardly unsung. Almost all of them are considered among the best midfielders in the world.

And I think you are overestimating Kyle Scott severely.  He’s not that good and Paul Pogba was already considered one of the better players in Serie A at his age.
He’s never been particularly eyecatching for our reserves either and haven’t even been a regular for USA’s youth national teams.

The others are clearly bigger talents, but i’ll be pleasantly surprised if any of them turn out to be Chelsea-players.

To compete with the best we need to spend money and a lot of it.

Okay, I'll bite... name the players and how much you will spend on them.

I personally would love to see RLC or MVG play regularly in the midfield ahead of any current Chelsea player apart from Kante 

 

 

Edited February 26, 20188 yr by DG19

15 minutes ago, Dorset said:

Okay, I'll bite... name the players and how much you will spend on them.

That is certainly a complicated question.
But we are definitly shooting ourselves in the foot again if we were to put our hopes on the shoulders if the likes of Kyle Scott and Mason Mount.

 

Now I wouldn’t mind us moving towards a more possession based style of football. There have been rumors of Luis Enrique taking over from Conte this summer which would mean just that. But it will take a lot of money to be successful.

Just have a look at Manchester City. Look how much they had to spend to make it work. And they have the maestro as their manager.

 

The game has changed and no top club can afford the patience to nurture a bunch of youngsters into the team anymore because they have competitors with a ton of money who can afford to buy the best players available at all times. Just like what we are facing now with United and City.

 

Some examples are Sergej Savic from Lazio and Fabinho from Monaco. The pair of them would probably cost us upwards of £150 million but then we’d have a midfield that’s able to compete with the best.

 

Edited February 26, 20188 yr by Sindre

49 minutes ago, Dorset said:

Okay, I'll bite... name the players and how much you will spend on them.

Certainly wouldn't be cheap but in terms of players who have the ability to play a possession-based style of football Weigl and Jorginho are two names that spring to mind. Ndombele while perhaps not being in the ball playing category is another who for me would bring our midfield back to a level of competitiveness we imho haven't seen since the likes of Essien/Maka/Lamps.

Sadly I think Kyle Scott's negatives will outweigh the positives, Verratti for example is a similar style of short ball playing midfielder - the difference being (that while actually being shorter than Scott) Verratti has an exceptional ability to recover the ball, something I'm not convinced Scott will ever have.

Edited February 26, 20188 yr by the special one

31 minutes ago, the special one said:

Certainly wouldn't come cheap but in terms of players who have the ability to play a possession-based style of football Weigl and Jorginho are two names that spring to mind immediately. Ndombele while perhaps not being in the ball playing category is another who for me would bring our midfield back to a level of competitiveness we imho haven't seen since the likes of Essien/Maka/Lamps.

Sadly I think Kyle Scott's negatives will outweigh the positives, Verratti for example is a similar style of short ball playing midfielder - the difference being (that while being shorter than Kyle Scott) Verratti has an exceptional ability to recover the ball, something I'm not convinced Scott will ever have.

I do not want us to mimic Pep's possession-based style of football, but what I would like is the option of having more possession and control in situations where we are seeking to influence the game, either by slowing it down when we are ahead or getting from box-to-box quicker without the risk of losing that possession [long ball tactic or slinging in crosses from deep] when we are behind. Essentially, I'm defining game management as I see it and looking at the player(s) we have available who are willing fetchers and carriers... and I certainly wouldn't want to be paying upwards of £150 million for a couple of them.

Edited February 26, 20188 yr by Dorset

50 minutes ago, Sindre said:

That is certainly a complicated question.
But we are definitly shooting ourselves in the foot again if we were to put our hopes on the shoulders if the likes of Kyle Scott and Mason Mount.

 

Now I wouldn’t mind us moving towards a more possession based style of football. There have been rumors of Luis Enrique taking over from Conte this summer which would mean just that. But it will take a lot of money to be successful.

Just have a look at Manchester City. Look how much they had to spend to make it work. And they have the maestro as their manager.

 

The game has changed and no top club can afford the patience to nurture a bunch of youngsters into the team anymore because they have competitors with a ton of money who can afford to buy the best players available at all times. Just like what we are facing now with United and City.

 

Some examples are Sergej Savic from Lazio and Fabinho from Monaco. The pair of them would probably cost us upwards of £150 million but then we’d have a midfield that’s able to compete with the best.

 

I keep hearing about Savic from Lazio, looks like he's in high demand.

Judging by our recent transfer deals, there's no chance in hell we'll spend that type of money on one - two players.

Edited February 26, 20188 yr by abramovich

7 minutes ago, Dorset said:

I do not want us to mimic Pep's possession-based style of football, but what I would like is the option of having more possession and control in situations where we are seeking to influence the game, either by slowing it down when we are ahead or getting from box-to-box quicker without the risk of losing that possession [long ball tactic or slinging in crosses from deep] when we are behind. Essentially, I'm defining game management as I see it and looking at the player(s) we have available who are willing fetchers and carriers... and I certainly wouldn't want to be paying upwards of £150 million for a couple of them.

Could you give me an example of how you'd like to see us line-up in midfield?

For me it doesn't matter what kind of a player you are as long as the quality is lacking. Our competitors are not afraid to spend upwards of £100 million on a single player. There is no way we will be able to compete in the long run if we aim to spend very little in comparison and simply stick with the players we have in the academy. No chance.

 

 

Jorginho is top drawer, his one-touch play is outstanding and has purpose, but you won't get him easily off of Napoli. And even if he were to be sold from them, he's by far their most important player to their system, other clubs have more pulling power in terms of a) stability, b) attractive playing style (yes, I believe this is an important aspect) and c) money. Weigl has stagnated a bit imo from what looked to be a surefire world beater a year ago, but at least here you could maybe negotiate with Batshuayi in a deal. Ndombele will be top class, but he's still rough around the edges and could do with another year or two in France. He doesn't play the deep lying playmaker role either, as you pointed out "the special one", but as a ball carrier through the lines he looks to be second to none. Milinkovic Savic is obviously the one to get, he's much better in a much worse team than what Pogba was in Juve, but every club sees that, and we won't get him due to him probably costing over £100 million. He also plays further forward than the role Dorset is asking for (and I agree we need to strengthen). The club that gets him is lucky, though. Fabinho is the one we should have gotten from Monaco, but didn't, so I don't even think he's a possibility.

@Dorset I think the sound of a (extremely good) point being missed is deafening. And, when I say missed, i mean by a mile.

20 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Could you give me an example of how you'd like to see us line-up in midfield?

For me it doesn't matter what kind of a player you are as long as the quality is lacking. Our competitors are not afraid to spend upwards of £100 million on a single player. There is no way we will be able to compete in the long run if we aim to spend very little in comparison and simply stick with the players we have in the academy. No chance.

 

 

Certainly. My preference would be a 3-5-2 formation, the five being Moses, Ampadu, Scott, Kante and Alonso, but in circumstances where we need to be more attacking, I'd go 3-4-2-1, with the four being Sterling, Chalobah Fabregas and Alonso. My two would be Willian and Hazard, with Hudson-Odoi as the impact player, replacing either if required. Ampadu would go back into the three, leaving Christensen out and keeping Dave [who would interchange with Sterling] and Rudiger either side. The choice between Christensen and Ampadu would be a difficult one, but Ampadu is the more confident at the moment and is, in my opinion, the better player coming forward from the back.

Incidentally, the only reason our competitors are not afraid to spend upwards of £100 million on a single player is that they've got money to burn and between them have become embroiled in some sort of Mancunian wad-waving competition that has got totally out of control. Quite frankly, anything we spend will be very little by comparison with their self-indulgent can't-have-too-many-fullbacks profligacy so we might just as well keep a tight grip on the purse strings while the Bridge gets a new lick of paint.

 

6 minutes ago, Dorset said:

Certainly. My preference would be a 3-5-2 formation, the five being Moses, Ampadu, Scott, Kante and Alonso, but in circumstances where we need to be more attacking, I'd go 3-4-2-1, with the four being Sterling, Chalobah Fabregas and Alonso. My two would be Willian and Hazard, with Hudson-Odoi as the impact player, replacing either if required. Ampadu would go back into the three, leaving Christensen out and keeping Dave [who would interchange with Sterling] and Rudiger either side. The choice between Christensen and Ampadu would be a difficult one, but Ampadu is the more confident at the moment and is, in my opinion, the better player coming forward from the back.

Incidentally, the only reason our competitors are not afraid to spend upwards of £100 million on a single player is that they've got money to burn and between them have become embroiled in some sort of Mancunian wad-waving competition that has got totally out of control. Quite frankly, anything we spend will be very little by comparison with their self-indulgent can't-have-too-many-fullbacks profligacy so we might just as well keep a tight grip on the purse strings while the Bridge gets a new lick of paint.

 

Thanks Dorset. 

I see where you are coming from but for me thats a midtable midfield at best at the present moment.

Kante and maybe Alonso are the two players i would deem to be on the required level for a top PL-side out of that five there. Ampadu i have high hopes for me will need time. Kyle Scott is not very good at all and i'll be incredibly surprised if he becomes a top player for any side.

 

8 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Thanks Dorset. 

I see where you are coming from but for me thats a midtable midfield at best at the present moment.

Kante and maybe Alonso are the two players i would deem to be on the required level for a top PL-side out of that five there. Ampadu i have high hopes for me will need time. Kyle Scott is not very good at all and i'll be incredibly surprised if he becomes a top player for any side.

 

We shall agree to differ, Sindre, but before finishing perhaps you could give me your opinion on Scott McTominay's sudden rise to first team status at United.... surprised or fully justified, a star in the making? 

1 minute ago, Dorset said:

We shall agree to differ, Sindre, but before finishing perhaps you could give me your opinion on Scott McTominay's sudden rise to first team status at United.... surprised or fully justified, a star in the making? 

Surprised and don't believe he'll be a United regular for very long. Looks bang average to me.

2 hours ago, Dorset said:

I do not want us to mimic Pep's possession-based style of football, but what I would like is the option of having more possession and control in situations where we are seeking to influence the game, either by slowing it down when we are ahead or getting from box-to-box quicker without the risk of losing that possession [long ball tactic or slinging in crosses from deep] when we are behind. Essentially, I'm defining game management as I see it and looking at the player(s) we have available who are willing fetchers and carriers... and I certainly wouldn't want to be paying upwards of £150 million for a couple of them.

I was happy with our possession and style of play in the first half against Man Utd. They couldn't deal with us and couldn't get out. We had them sewn up so that all they could ultimately do is either run 70 yards with the ball and then lose it or give it back to us.

We have the talent and can nuture and bleed youngsters into the team as we go rather than wholesale changes. We need a proper presence up front that these possession based, quick witted and fleet footed midfielders can work off of. Drinkwater and Kante are our fetchers and carriers and have all of the tools we need. We just need to improve a bit around the edges (CF, maybe RWB with a bit more product) and we need this in depth so that when energy levels drop we can replace players without losing our shape or dynamism.

Man City's money is not what gives them the shape, the posession, the pattern and the clinical finishing. But their money does give them the production line of depth so that when one is banned or injured another of very similar standards steps up.

We had these energy levels last year and this ability, with a number of unfancied players. We are failing this year because the extra competitve demands are wearing down these energy levels and we just don't have the numbers of similar quality, similarly energetic players programmed into the Conte pattern.

people talk about city, but once pep leaves they will be back to the same city as before. i mean that city still won trophies, but pep is an anomaly. i would be surprised he's still at city past next season. jose has probably got a season or two left at most with utd. i think the way our club rotates managers isn't a bad thing whatsoever, ideas grow stale and players become disillusioned. 

How about drinkwater dorset?  Could he not give what you seek?

I was hopeful when he arrived (although not favour of buying him ahead of blooding one of those named as 'the future' by Conte) but this was based purely on his partnership with Kante at Leicester and the renewal of it. With hindsight and not having checked their passing stats during the Leicester title winning season so I cannot say for sure, I doubt either player provided what I'm after as Claudio's strategy, winning or losing, was always to get through midfield as quickly as possible to give Vardy and Mahrez maximum opportunity in the last third. What I'm looking for is long periods of ball retention in the opponent's half, even recycling it ad nauseam if needs be, rather than passing neatly from the back, not making much headway, then hitting it into the channels for Morata to constantly go down under pressure, but with no resulting free kick.

When in possession our players, Willian, Hazard, Pedro, Moses, are better equipped to attack facing the opposition's penalty area and from just outside it, so the midfield must push up, press if you like, and try to encamp in this area. I sense Drinkwater wouldn't be able to resist having a dig from the 30/35 yard region, sooner rather than later, which is fine if you are leading and in control, but releases the tension otherwise. A player like Kyle Scott will simply make himself available on either side of the pitch, take in the pass and recycle it elsewhere, time and again, until the edge of the box is reached and someone like Hazard will make his run into it. Mason Mount would be more inclined to take responsibility on himself in this area, the fetch and carry passing game not being his forte.

For me, Drinkwater is better suited to the out of possession defensive role, but here again I may be influenced by the assistance Kante provides when they play as the holding two. If it were Scott, he would always be the first in-your-face-foot-in type of player, the closest I've seen to your avatar for a long while and a right pain of a player for the opposition! Of course, he would not be everyone's choice and too artisan for many, but, in my opinion, if we are talking about game management, he would be the stand out candidate in our current squad to set it all in motion. 

 

Ahh you want a new wisey in midfield. I would be all for that. Though have to think, with all the attention we get these days, that would lead to a few red cards!

We used to have a player who was a specialist at calmly recycling possession, but unfortunately we let him go to China on a free last January. 

i think Ampadu can do a midfiled role , no problem with his passing and energy levels