Chelsea: Antonio Rudiger a rare point of consensus in Maurizio Sarri’s squad

Chelsea fans did not agree on much when it came to Maurizio Sarri’s inertial decision-making processes about his squad. Antonio Rudiger provided the closest thing to consensus along the back line.

If not for his late-season knee season, Antonio Rudiger would have finished 2018/19 in Chelsea’s 4,000 minute club. The important thing is to deny that those two facts are in any way related.

Until the spring, Maurizio Sarri’s defence was the most constant part of his starting XI’s. The battery of Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Rudiger and Marcos Alonso was certain to start, whereas the midfield always had the question of who would start in the attacking / left central role; and the forward line was a jumble with the decision between Willian and Pedro, or both depending on whether Sarri went with a striker or a false-nine.

But as with the rest of the lineup, Sarri’s defensive constancy did not translate to agreement or acceptance from the fans.

Emerson’s pace-oriented supporters clamored for his inclusion from day one. Their calls gained a bit of credence once Marcos Alonso’s vulnerabilities as a full-back (as opposed to a wing-back) came to the fore. However, Emerson did not do a better job than Alonso in proving why he should start. The two spent the first six months of the season holding the door for each other, both unable to walk through it.

Showcasing the desultory lows of this season’s fan discourse, Cesar Azpilicueta came in for some invective. Whereas the anti-Alonso brigade were motivated as much by support of Emerson (did we mention he’s pacey?), Azpilicueta’s critics had no one to offer as an immediate replacement. Even in this era of increasingly niche partisanship, Davide Zappacosta could still not find a rabid base of support.

Even if Chelsea had a Premier League-ready alternative at right-back, the notion of criticizing Cesar Azpilicueta is ludicrous on its face. Azpilicueta certainly had his off games. He had 500 more minutes than any other outfield player but, like Rudiger’s (or N’Golo Kante’s) injury, we should not draw a line between those facts.

For the vast majority of his 4,867 minutes, Azpilicueta was still the most reliable full-back in the organization. And, given the ghosting of Gary Cahill, Azpilicueta’s leadership was absolutely necessary on the pitch. His passion and effort was unwavering, he knew how to motivate and marshal the men, and he comported himself as leader throughout the campaign.

He was one of the few players to show the proper emotion – incandescent rage – each time Chelsea’s xenotransplanted zonal marking scheme conceded another goal.

Antonio Rudiger was one of the others. While David Luiz might look glum after a goal, Rudiger trained his righteous fire on the oft-inattentive Brazilian. Rudiger might have been in a particularly unfortunate position: intelligent enough to understand the vulnerabilities of zonal marking in the Premier League, physical and aware enough to do something about it, but, being one of the few with those characteristics, he could not do enough to stop the inevitable.

Rudiger’s defensive constancy was the perfect contrast to David Luiz’s, um, lack of it. Rudiger found himself in more one-on-one situations against a counter-attack than a centre-back ever should.

Marcos Alonso tended to play forward and stay forward, and does not have the speed to recover back and defend a counter (Emerson has the speed, but usually reacted too late to recover and ended up as far behind the play as Alonso). Cesar Azpilicueta would stay further back, but on the other side of the pitch. David Luiz would be out on an adventure, so any counter-attack would come down Chelsea’s left.

Rudiger would have to defend mostly by himself until Azpilicueta could come over from the right. Azpilicueta, though, is not the fastest player either. The best he could usually offer was blocking a cut-back pass or clearing a rebound.

If the counter kept everything moving forward, though, only Rudiger stood between it and Kepa Arrizabalga.

David Luiz was supposedly indispensable to Maurizio Sarri’s defence because of his ball-playing abilities, particularly his passing. While Andreas Christensen would have provided a more conservative defensive option, the lore of Sarriball demands a centre-back handy on the ball. Luiz proved his passing abilities many times over, particularly when he would lump a long ball over and across the lines to Chelsea’s striker or a winger moving centrally. Oh wait, that never happens in Sarriball because it never happens in Pep-ball either.

In any event, Luiz led the team in completed long-ball passes with 217. Antonio Rudiger was third with 149. However, Rudiger’s 64% completion rate of long-balls was well better than Luiz’s 57%.

One of the first impressions Antonio Rudiger made in 2017/18 under Antonio Conte was his long diagonal passes from the left of the three-man defence to Victor Moses advancing up the right flank. Rudiger showed nearly as much passing range as Luiz to go with much greater defensive solidity. He has enough passing ability to be the “ball-playing” centre-back on defence, with Andreas Christensen as the more defensive-minded player. Rudiger may not have Luiz’s dribbling, but if you’re here judging centre-backs on their ability to charge the ball up field we probably can’t do much for you anyway.

But as we now know, David Luiz worked his magic during preseason to nab himself one of the two slots. Antonio Rudiger is a better all-around centre-back than Andreas Christensen and should be in line for the captaincy if he stays at Chelsea, so he took the other spot and spent the season covering for his erstwhile partner.

Antonio Rudiger accomplished the rare feat of warding off the banter that surrounded Chelsea this season. If he can defend against that, he should anchor Chelsea’s back-line for another decade.