It will be a paradox when saying that Chelsea lacks personnel. However, Levi Colwill's unexpected injury revealed the unexpected weaknesses of the Blues.
Chelsea is having a big problem. No, it's not a £ 253 million pound attack (Joao Pedro, Pedro Neto, Jamie Gittens, Cole Palmer, Estevao and Liam Delap) can only launch 3 target shots towards the Crystal Palace goal over the weekend.
The real problem lies on the other side of the yard, where a injury has caused the Blues to lack people seriously in the defense. The unfortunate ACL injury of Levi Colwill came at a time when it could not be worse for the FIFA Club World Cup champion, who had a lack of choice in the defense. Enzo Maresca coach now has only 12 defenders to fill 4 positions in the defense.
“You know how important Levi is last season, for the way we want to play,” Chelsea coach said at a press conference at Cobham. “We have said many times that we can create opportunities and attack properly, if we can build the right way. Levi is an important part of our ball deployment and now he has to quit playing.”
Unfortunately, the choices that Maresca had, as the Italian coach said last week, was not enough and the only solution was to buy another defender. “The club knows exactly my thoughts – I think we need a center -back,” Maresca said. “We are looking for an internal solution, but as I said, the club knows exactly my thoughts.”
Rece James, Josh Acheampong, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Marc Cucurella, Axel Disasi, Malo Gusto, Trevoh Chalobah, Jorrel Hato, Wesley Fofana, Renato Veiga and Aaron Ansyelmino are still … not enough defense.
In fact, Veiga, who played 5 matches in the central position for Portugal, was considered redundant at this time and expected to be sold. Similarly Disasi.
Chelsea also signed a contract with a promising young midfielder Mamadou Sarr last summer after stressful negotiations with Strasbourg, but decided to send this teenage player back to the old club on loan when giving him a 8 -year contract.
This is a difficult situation for Chelsea, who since the era of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital began to constantly lack cash and new players, when it spent £ 1.5 billion for 49 rookies in 3 years.
Maresca's comments contrary to the information of Transfer Dealsheet last week, which said that Chelsea had no intention of plunging into TTCN to find a replacement for Colwill.
Sources at Chelsea, confirming their stance has not changed. The three main factors influenced this decision: the confidence in the depth of the formation has been accumulated, the lack of appropriate options on this Techmart, and absolute belief in Maresca and his training team to improve existing personnel.
There is a strong belief in the Chelsea leadership that they have built the most depth in the Premier League, and the center -back position is the No. 1 priority. Among the players in the defense, only Malo Gusto is not suitable to play in the diagram of 3 central defenders – which is a defensive squad when the Blues control the ball.
Not the rest are suitable for the specific role that Maresca is looking for: It is the center -back of the 3 -person defense – often more responsible for deploying the ball. Colwill is excellent in that role, very proficient in launching low and accurate passes through the opponent's routes to reach the foot of the midfield or striker of Chelsea.
Tosin Adarabioyo is another player that Maresca has trusted a lot in this position last season, often playing in the middle of Chelsea's three defense in the Conference League as well as in specific matches in the Premier League when Colwill was arranged to play wider to the left and Marc Cucurella was pushed higher.
“We deploy the ball with Levi in the middle,” Maresca added. “Last year, we played 64 matches and we played 64 matches with Levi and Tosin.”
“Now Levi has to take a break, the only one who can do well is Tosin.
Badiashile has shown the ability to deploy the ball from the center -back position in her ups and downs' career at Chelsea. In many ways, this 24 -year -old has the same style as Colwill. Badiashile may be the best replacement when possessing good fitness, but stability is not available.
There are also people at Chelsea that 19 -year -old Josh Acheampong can do that job if given more opportunities. Aaron Anselmino also played in the middle of the 3 -person defense from Boca Juniors. At the beginning of his career, the 20 -year -old at the end of Chelsea's priority list, but he could still be used if he impressed Maresca during training sessions.
