Chelsea have no room for error or inattention against Bayern Munich, who have the better of Chelsea at every position. Three Bayern players, though, deserve an extra watchful eye from the Blues.
Every time I suggested a Chelsea – Bayern Munich combined XI to our writers, I was met with some version of “Oh, you mean Bayern’s starting XI?” Much like what my colleague Barrett said yesterday about the Premier League’s top teams, it’s hard to see any Chelsea player fitting in anywhere in Bayern Munich’s squad. Here are three players against whom the Blues should find a way to focus their efforts without being distracted from the rest of the team.
1. Alphonso Davies
Alphonso Davies is what a certain segment of Chelsea fans thought Emerson would be, but even they never deluded themselves into thinking that it is what Emerson is. Take all the Emerson hype about PAYCE, aggressively dribbling past defenders, not overlapping but bypassing his own wingers en route to the box, add 10-15%, bring it into reality and then you have Alphonso Davies.
Once Davies enters the final third, you would really have no way of knowing he is a full-back and not a winger. His positioning, movement, decisions and instincts are all that of a forward.
Whereas Liverpool’s full-backs “merely” send crosses into the box for the forwards to put into the net, Davies takes himself and the ball into the box to create cut-backs, one-two’s or support third man runs by the forward. The whole situation creates the sort of deep penetration and chaos that usually ends with a Robert Lewandowski goal.
smarterscout rates his dribbling as being in the 98th percentile of fullbacks if he was in the Premier League; his ball recovery in the 99th percentile; and his defending quantity in the 98th percentile. Reece James, who will likely line up opposite Davies, comes nowhere close to those marks.
Chelsea will need to overload the right side of their defence to handle Davies and the actual winger, Serge Gnabry. Normally, this would entail bringing one of the centrebacks out to the right. But doing so against Bayern Munich, even if the Blues play with three centrebacks, will just leave more space for Robert Lewandowski. The other usual option would be N’Golo Kante, but he is unavailable. Neither Jorginho nor Mateo Kovacic have the defensive abilities or speed to do much more than temporarily impede Davies.
The best option may be playing Azpilicueta as a defensive midfielder in front of a three-man backline. Azpilicueta was the key to the offensive fluidity of the 3-4-3 against Tottenham, and in this position he could be the key to the shifting defensive needs as Bayern Munich move the play inside to outside and back between their many threats.