The change of guard at right back has begun at Chelsea, and a bittersweet change it is. On one hand, you have an exciting young talent in Reece James, making his mark. And on the other is Chelsea’s most consistent player of the past few years, Cesar Azpilicueta, passing the baton.
It all started on Premier League match day 12 this season at home to Crystal Palace. Reece James was the starting right back and Azpilicueta was not a part of the Chelsea XI, a true rarity. Prior to this match, Azpilicueta had started each of Chelsea’s previous 73 Premier League games, at the time the longest run for any outfield player. Prior to starting that streak, he had another of 74 games.
One might think that after 74 and then 73 consecutive starts Azpilicueta deserved a breather. A couple of weeks later, James once again started and Azpilicueta was on the bench against West Ham.
The signs were already there of the Azpilicueta-James transition. Davide Zappacosta, Chelsea’s back up right back from the past two years, was loaned out to Roma in the summer transfer window and James was starting in the cup games.
A few years back, the situation was very much the same when a young Spaniard, Cesar Azpilicueta Tanco, came to Chelsea and became the mononymous, monosyllabic “Dave.”
Within a year, he ended up displacing Chelsea’s and England’s best left-back Ashley Cole from the starting XI. In his first season with the club, Azpilicueta won the Europa League.
A Tottenham manager once very famously said a team with 11 Azpilicueta’s would probably win the Champions League, because football is not about pure talent.
This statement underlines Azpilicueta’s strengths: dogged determination, competitiveness, the drive to out-run and out-work the opponents and even many of his teammates. He is a consistent, no nonsense performer giving at least a 7/10 performance week in, week out, through his 350+ appearances for Chelsea.
In the next couple of years this would help Azpilicueta to win two Premier League titles, and become, for many, the best defender in the Premier League.
His stint under Antonio Conte started at left back again. As Conte transformed Chelsea into a title-winning 3-4-3, Azpilicueta made the right centre back position his own. He would guide Victor Moses and provide defensive cover for Moses’ attacking runs. In the same formation the next season he landed six assists, most onto Alvaro Morata’s head.
Recently, Azpilicueta has been a victim of his durability and work rate. He has started 36, 38, 37 and 38 Premier League games starting in 2015/16, and played every minute in the title-winning 2016/17 season. He also has the highest percentage (63.8%) of domestic league minutes for Chelsea in the previous decade.
In doing so – and with the simple passage of years – he has lost some of his pace, having been caught out on defensive transitions occasionally over the last two seasons.
When Maurizio Sarri came in and began implementing Sarriball, Azpilicueta moved back to right back. Maybe not the manager, but definitely many fans expected him to suddenly add an extra dimension to his attacking game, contributing crosses, key passes, assists. He was called out by fans on many occasions for not contributing enough to the attack.
Now, Azpilicueta is no mug when it comes to attack. After all he was a striker and then a winger during his youth days at Osasuna. He has assisted Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Tammy Abraham for their first Premier League goals. But expecting him to be the Plan B strategy for attacks when there is a more technically gifted centre midfielder who possesses all the skills Azpilicueta lacks reeks of weirdness.
Azpilicueta is an underrated leader, one who leads by example on the pitch. He started 2020 with his 100th appearance as club captain in a man of the match performance against Brighton. He wasn’t new to captaincy, though, having been Spain’s under-17, under-19 and under-21 captain.
As a leader, he exemplifies “the Chelsea Way” both on and off the pitch, something he learned in his time playing with John Terry and Frank Lampard. After receiving a lot of flak for his leadership (or lack thereof) during the Kepa Arrizabalaga incident under Sarri, he transformed and has taken on a more aggressive on-field persona. He is among the first to make a point to the referee when some decisions do not go the team’s way, and is the first to face the media when Chelsea loses, taking accountability for the performances as a leader should.
His Chelsea career came full circle last season when he won the Europa League again, but this time he lifted the trophy as a captain. Eventually, his leadership will be judged on how he transfers the Chelsea ethos to this young team. Even though Lampard, Petr Cech and Jody Morris are around, the players need one amongst them to look up to in the locker room and on the pitch, and Azpilicueta is that man.
Reece James’ challenge – the greatest of his career to date – is to consistently usurp Azpilicueta’s place in the starting XI. Azpilicueta will not go down without a fight, and James’ best allies in this mission are Emerson and Marcos Alonso, who are letting Azpilicueta secure a starting place as left back.
Reece James is improving quickly, as recently evidenced by his recent man of the match performance against Burnley. But he is young and will definitely make mistakes, albeit many fewer than any other young right back.
Consequently, Azpilicueta’s most significant contribution in the coming year or two will be to mentor James, impart the winning mentality that is expected from any Chelsea player and hold the fort at right-back until James gains experience and irons out any flaws in his game.