Chelsea: Everton made it easy for Billy Gilmour, but he knew what to do

Chelsea and Everton take equal shares of responsibility for the Blues’ 4-0 win at Stamford Bridge. Billy Gilmour led by example in taking advantage of Everton’s compliant play.

Billy Gilmour led Chelsea with 73 completed passes against Everton, including all 24 he attempted in the defensive third. His selection and execution were impeccable, and he completed passes under every situation: unmarked, on the turn, under pressure, coming out from pressure, etc. But his opponents helped him in Chelsea’s half by giving him plenty of space, not just to make a pass but to make the right pass that did the most to bring the Blues upfield.

A lot of people will derisively say “He was just in the right place at the right time” to put down someone’s success in sport, business or whatever else. Being in the right place at the right time certainly helps, but the necessary condition is knowing what to do and being able to do it when in the right place at the right time. Chelsea fans know all about this. Many times Ross Barkley (not recently, though) or Michy Batshuayi are in the right place at the right time and choose the worst of all possible options. Or take Alvaro Morata: he was routinely in the right place at the right time and knew what to do, but didn’t / couldn’t do it.

Everton gave Billy Gilmour the right places at all the right times as Chelsea built up their play.

Everton’s press, such as it was, consisted of Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin closing down Antonio Rudiger and Kurt Zouma. The Toffees’ midfield line marked Chelsea’s midfield line, which normally moved just over midfield as soon as Kepa Arrizabalaga and the defence secured possession and prepared to transition play.

As a result, there was a large gap between Everton’s midfield and forward lines while Everton were pressing. Because Ross Barkley and Mason Mount pulled their opposite numbers with them into Everton’s half, Billy Gilmour was the only player from either side in that wide open space.

Chelsea have frequently found themselves in that situation this season and last. Normally, Jorginho would be in that position. Around November and December of 2018, most of Chelsea’s opponents would mark Jorginho closely to take him out of the build-up play. By the second half of last season, though, many opponents would give him more space because allowing him the ball gave a level of predictability to the Blues’ build-up that the opponent could use to their advantage. This led to the fullbacks, another midfielder or Eden Hazard dropping deep to offer a new option, but which came at the expense of the open space in midfield and Chelsea’s presence in the offensive half.

When Jorginho finds himself in those spaces, he normally runs towards the defensive line to make himself available as an outlet for them. However, all this does is reduce the effective space on either side of him. He closes the gap between himself and the opponent’s pressing forwards, making it easier for them to pressure him once he receives the ball; and he attracts the opponent’s midfielders to then come into that space, reducing the gap between the opponent’s forward and midfield line and, again, inviting pressure on himself.

He likely did this because he is more comfortable receiving the ball in those positions because it gave him a ready “safety” option. If he receives the ball and he is not in a good body orientation or he is quickly closed down, he can pop the ball back to a centreback, who will have a second or two before the pressing forwards change direction again and re-press the defenders.

But the irony is he is attracting pressure from both sides as a player who does not work well with the ball under pressure. Hence the staccato one-touch passes: that’s all the time he has before stuff hits the fan.

Gilmour stayed in the open spaces between Everton’s lines. He moved right to left to keep a good angle on the ball and the pressing forwards, but not significantly forward and back.

When he received the ball in those areas, the extra space gave him extra time to decide and move. If Everton read the play and closed him down, he doesn’t need much extra time to go with another option.

Because he can receive passes in a variety of body positions and then, from any of them, turn, dribble or pass, he did not need to be close to his safety option. While just over one-third of his passes were backwards, they not “hospital passes.” Gilmour’s usual response under pressure is to dribble into space and then choose the right pass, which after dribbling is usually forward. He could make use of the space Everton gave him to keep the play moving forward.

Everton gave Billy Gilmour the right places and the right times. He knew what to do with them, and was able to do it.

This made the difference between coasting through an opponent’s tactical errors and making the opponent pay for them.