3. Midfield situation is still murky (George Perry)
Maurizio Sarri sent out a Franken-lineup to face Dynamo Kyiv. How else to describe any time you have Davide Zappacosta, Ross Barkley, Andreas Christensen and Mateo Kovacic all out there together?
The midfield lineup was the most unusual (say what you want about Zappacosta – he is the only way Cesar Azpilicueta will ever get a day off). Mateo Kovacic is supposed to be Jorginho’s relief at the base of the midfield. Yet rather than rest Jorginho in favour of Kovacic – allowing Jorginho to recover and Kovacic to build proficiency in that role – Sarri played them both together.
Likewise, some combination of three midfielders should be enough to grant N’Golo Kante a night off. Instead, Sarri swapped one overworked player for another in the 62′, with Jorginho going off and Kante coming on. And while Kovacic and Ross Barkley have proven to be a subpar combination in the past, they, too, started together.
Barkley was much improved from his last performance, but Ruben Loftus-Cheek quickly showed the quality gap between the two. He injected purposeful dribbling almost from his first touch, and three minutes after coming on drew the free kick that Willian sent into the top corner.
The midfield starters and rotation were a perfect compromise: nobody got what they really needed. Ruben Loftus-Cheek needs a start for his own match fitness and confidence, and because the team is simply better with him on the pitch. Loftus-Cheek played 53 minutes on January 2 and 42 minutes on January 5. He has not had over 28 minutes in a game since then.
Neither Jorginho nor N’Golo Kante were able to spend the night recovering mentally and physically. Mateo Kovacic did not have an entire game against lower-level opposition to practice being the deep-lying midfielder. And Ross Barkley was not paired in the way he would be against Premier League sides, which is where he is struggling the most.
And, of course, this is before we even mention the Ethan Ampadu situation.
Maurizio Sarri has yet to settle on his best player for the third midfield slot. Because he relies so much on Jorginho and N’Golo Kante, he forecloses easy rotation options when he has the opportunity against teams like Dynamo Kyiv.
Both in the sense of choosing three players for a given game or the broader scope of the season, the midfield on Thursday reflected the poor management that led Chelsea to this point and the confusion that reigns from day to day.