Ross Barkley played his best two games of the season against his oldest rival and his former club before the Premier League’s virus interruptus. He needed the momentum of March as much as any other Chelsea player.
Chelsea fans quickly got over Tammy Abraham’s penalty miss in the UEFA Super Cup shootout. I only remembered it when I was thinking of a lead-in for this article. Many fans, though, still harbor a grudge or worse against Ross Barkley for his penalty miss against Valencia. Some fans, you know the kind, the ones who forbid anyone from talking mildly ill of their favourite player and admonish you to support the lads and the manager unconditionally as long as the lads and the manager are their favourites, blamed Ross Barkley throughout the Champions League group stages and right up through the game against Bayern Munich. If not for Barkley’s selfishness and poor execution from the spot, the Blues would have been first in the group and would have drawn an easier opponent like Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid or eight-goals-in-the-group-stage Atalanta.
For all but a few, Barkley put all that well into the past with his performances against Liverpool and Everton in the last week of the pre-coronavirus season.
Barkley scored his first goal against Liverpool, ending a streak that started in Everton. He then added two assists against Everton. Barkley took three shots with two on target against Liverpool; and added six defensive actions – the most of any midfielder.
Against Everton, he took another three shots with two on target; completed seven dribbles and six key passes (leading the Premier League in both that weekend); and made two tackles.
His success in those two games and the injuries across Chelsea’s midfielders and forwards had him in line to start the remaining games before the international break. He would have then taken that form right into the England side, where his place is usually much more assured than it is at Stamford Bridge.
After leaving Barkley out of the World Cup squad, Gareth Southgate called Ross Barkley back to the squad for the second UEFA Nations League game in October 2018. Since then, Barkley has played in every game for England except a friendly against the United States and two games in November when he was injured. In September and October of 2019, Barkley played more minutes for England than he did for Chelsea.
Southgate always seemed to ask Barkley to play to his skill set more than Maurizio Sarri or Frank Lampard did. Perhaps because national teams are limited in how intricate their set-up can be, and because England was in such a state of flux after the World Cup, Barkley was able to play a simple, direct attacking midfielder role. Southgate wasn’t asking Barkley to play against type, and unsurprisingly, it worked.
Part of what made Barkley’s performances against Liverpool and Everton so impressive is that he showed a wider range than he previously had for Chelsea and normally does for England.
He had a much greater defensive role against Liverpool, and in that game he was a part of Chelsea’s picking their moments carefully, knowing they would have few chances to score and Liverpool could quickly turn an attack back on the Blues. Several times he had what appeared to be a decent shooting lane, the sort of 20-25 yard shot that everyone expects him to take. In those situations, he opted for short passes to teammates in slightly better positions. He turned down the attractive but low probability shot for the less sexy option, but one better for chance creation and ball retention.
His play in the midfield block against Liverpool translated to his position in Chelsea’s shorter press against Everton. The Blues did not use a prolonged press against the Toffees, opting to fall back into a 4-1-4-1 if they could not force a quick turnover on the initial press.
By holding his position in the line of four, Barkley could help contain Everton’s play out from the back. When the Blues forced a turnover in midfield, Barkley had the entire Everton half – with a lot of open space – in front of him. He could feed the ball forward to Willian and Pedro attacking that space, or run through it himself.
His showings in the last two games revealed how much he and Frank Lampard are working together. Barkley is doing more, and Lampard is expecting things more tailored to Barkley than before. This is giving Barkley the ability to do for Chelsea what he normally does for England.
Unfortunately, Barkley is now unable to take one directly into the other, as club and country alike are under lockdown. Hopefully when football returns he can pick up where he left off.