Chelsea FC debuted Kenedy in a preseason match vs Barcelona. He impressed, then the season went up in smoke. What can be learnt from the winger’s displays?
The young armadillo-on-ice skates type player (who’s named after assassinated former U.S. President John F. Kennedy for some reason) came to Chelsea from Fluminense last summer. There was some weirdness regarding work permits and bureaucracy that I don’t understand, but it didn’t matter in the end, Kenedy was a Chelsea player from our third preseason match on.
Speaking of that third preseason match, it was against Barcelona. A Messi-less Barcelona, but Barcelona nonetheless. This is how Kenedy introduced himself (skip to the 1:04 mark to see him muscle off the guy who kept La Liga’s scoring title away from Cristiano Ronaldo):
So, what the hell to do with all of that then. Trying to analyze a player this frenetic is like trying to predict the precise landing spot of a popped balloon. So much skill mixed with so much want to show it all with every touch of the ball. Yet even with that, he’s still a committed enough player to be trusted in defense. Those things typically don’t go together.
When the struggles of Branislav Ivanovic proved too much for the youth-begrudging needer-of-consistency, Jose Mourinho gave Iva a rest (or a reprieve disguised as rest) and slotted in the young frantic footballer at left back.
This bumped Cesar Azpilicueta to his more natural right side, but it shouldn’t have worked much beyond that as frantic players in defense are typically closer to a 9-to-5 than they are to being penned in as a starter. Though Kenedy never threatened to supplant Ivanovic, that he looked like he wouldn’t have made things any worse (while showing a capability to worry his opposite number) is testament to Kenedy’s football instincts.
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Testament to our season’s dysfunction is that we’re still discussing Kenedy the LB, when his best position is in the final third.
Kenedy’s fiery style, ball skill, and quickness meant he was mostly serviceable wherever he was played. Good for the team, bad for the player. While Kenedy spent time at positions rooted in each third, his natural instincts are that of an attacker. Scampering away from defenders, whipping in crosses, and peppering the goal is what he wants to do on a pitch. Making a nuisance of himself is something he can do, but he’s at his freest and most effective as a winger.
Against Walsall—which, yes, Walsall and all that etc. etc.—Kenedy flashed what he could do in an advanced position.
Kenedy assisted on the first goal of a 4-1 victory by closing down a defender and getting to the ricocheted ball so quickly that he had ages to pick the right pass. At 4:25, he scored a goal of his own. A darted reverse pass from Ruben Loftus-Cheek was instantly controlled in the box and slotted through the legs of a panicked keeper. Kenedy, full of satisfaction and emotion, started covering his face mid knee-slide because that’s the beauty of youth and players who will tirelessly work to have that moment.
His desire to do the amazing thing is almost tangible.
But as a result he also plays like his ‘flair’ button is jammed down. Crossing opportunities become rabona opportunities and why do a stepover when an elastico would get at least a hundred more retweets.
Kenedy elastico. #cfc pic.twitter.com/s2ZJxm53ao
— ChelseaTalk (@CheIseaTalk) August 31, 2015
This is where Kenedy needs molding. His talent and ability (and confidence in his ability) are already overflowing. It should be up to the manager to convince him that a spigot will only help make the game easier for him. If his reading of play improves, he’ll spot the moments in which a simple cross is more serviceable than a rabona.
He’s also prone to donating balls to those in the 400-level as his pupils bolt from his sclera at any sliver of a goal opening. Other times he’s teased so much by a patch of open grass behind two defenders that he eschews the pass-and-run option for a FIFA17 skill maneuver. While always seeking to trouble defenders is never a bad trait, his development will need a bit of massaging if he is to eventually be relied upon.
But so far all this just means that Kenedy’s negatives are just that of most young players: excitable, thus susceptible to the rash decision.
Where Kenedy separates himself is in being a frantic and raw player that also has the discipline to be a more settling presence at left back than newly signed and actual left back, Baba Rahman.
Next: Player evaluations 2015/16
If given a more consistent role with more consistent duties, Kenedy’s potential will begin to crystallize. And since he just turned twenty in February, now’s as good a time as any to stop treating one of our uber-talented youth players like wallet-sized multitools once they get to the first team.
