Cesar Azpilicueta, Right wing back: 7
Azpilicueta may be the one player who is most out of place specifically in this formation.
As we were obliged to point out many times in grave detail over the last month, Azpilicueta was the target, not the cause, of many of Chelsea’s defensive issues early in the season. This formation solves many of those problems, and frees Azpilicueta into the expanded role. But it’s still not natural to him.
Fortunately, Azpilicueta has enough graft and determination to get the job done even in a sub-optimal position. As wing back he is always driving at full tilt, which may take its toll on him but is a necessary example and a refreshing change from some Blues’ sluggishness last season. His desire to send crosses into the box is a good start for a wing back, but he and Willian still bobble together sometimes on the right.
Once he is fit, Reece James will free Azpilicueta to play where the team need him most: central midfield.
Jorginho, Midfield: 6.0 + .5 = 6.5
Opposing teams don’t mark Jorginho because he is so crucial to Chelsea’s build-up (he’s not, particularly not this season) or because he’s such a dangerous player (he’s not, and never was). They do it because it’s an easy way to reduce Chelsea to 10 men. Effectively marking Jorginho is not about denying him the ball but denying him a close (under 10 yards) outlet for the ball. He is still not comfortable dribbling, nor does he find players moving through space. Please note that: (a) moving, through (b) space. He can pass the ball into feet like a champ, but when you do that, there are normally four feet instead of two in your target area.
Chelsea’s wing backs often started too high up the pitch when the Blues were playing out. This forced the wingers to drop deep. The centrebacks would look to play the ball to Jorginho, but he usually moved close to one of his teammates so he could have a ready recipient for one of his trademark one-touch no-look passes. All that did, though, was bring his markers close to his teammate’s markers, so the centreback would have to pass into a 2v3 or 2v4 situation.
The really remarkable thing about Jorginho’s pointing and shouting is not the sheer volume of it. It’s how seldom any of his teammates actually do what he points and shouts at them to do. We’re talking single-digit percentages here.
N’Golo Kante’s return may keep Jorginho in the lineup if Lampard returns to a three-man midfield. If that’s the case, Jorginho will hang on until Ruben Loftus-Cheek comes back. But if Kante is healthy and the Blues stay in a 3-4-3, it has to be Kante and Mateo Kovacic.
We’ll give Jorginho an extra .5, though, for how he handled the Ross Barkley penalty kick situation. Once he realized and accepted that Barkley was taking it, he shook Barkley’s hand in encouragement and moved out of the way, unlike a teammate of his.
Mateo Kovacic, Midfield: 7.5
Kovacic is Chelsea’s best option to advance play through the midfield. This is mainly and simply because he can both dribble and pass, and he has a wider effective range of passes than Jorginho does.
Kovacic is playing a Kante-lite role in the Frenchman’s absence, running down the play in both directions and doing what he can to pivot the play upfield when Chelsea are bringing the ball out. Kante’s return, or having Azpilicueta fulfill his destiny as Javier Zanetti’s heir in defensive midfield, will let Kovacic play higher up the pitch to become another dribbling threat into the box on offence and break up counter-attacks behind Chelsea’s press.
Marcos Alonso, Left wing back: 7
Marcos Alonso forced Valencia Jasper Cilessen into two of his biggest saves of the night. Had either of those shots gone in Alonso may have locked down his place in the lineup (and the attendant 3-4-3) simply because Chelsea need a way to score a few set piece goals to make up for all those they concede.