Chelsea’s Mason Mount has found himself deeper for club and country this season, but using him in a midfield pair is somewhat new by England.
All of the hoopla about Jack Grealish versus Mason Mount proved to be much ado about nothing as Gareth Southgate ended up playing both against the Republic of Ireland. It echoed similar handwringing about Kai Havertz versus Mason Mount that proved to be a big ole nothing burger. Oh, and do not forget Chrisitan Pulisic versus Mason Mount which, you guessed it, proved to be nothing.
Mount is often the player doing the hard, dirty, and unappreciated work in his team. He is the code in a computer, the gear in the machine that makes everything else work as it should. The layman doesn’t see that taking that away causes the entire machine to perform worse. The experts, such as Frank Lampard and Gareth Southgate who have made a life out of this game, get it.
That being said, Southgate took that a bit literally against Ireland. In a 3-4-3 formation, Southgate put Mount smack dab in the middle of the midfield. Mind it is one thing to be a center mid in a trio, but something entirely different to do so in a duo. Much more responsibility is required on and off the ball. Not only did Mount rise to the challenge, he excelled at it. That may give Chelsea and Lampard some food for thought.
It is important to note that Lampard and probably Southgate are not building their lineups from the base formation. Instead, it seems to be that they build from their final attacking shape and work backwards until it makes sense. Generally, that will either be a 2-3-5 (as is often the case with Chelsea) or a 3-2-5 (as is often the case with England).
For much of Mount’s time at Chelsea, Lampard has looked for ways to include Mount in that attacking line of five. That is why he often plays “on the wing” when in reality he is mostly just filling an inside channel. Being a part of the five also means counterpressing when the ball is lost which Mount excels at.
Lately, however, Mount has been appearing deeper in the play in the midfield. He can still move up higher and rotate with the winger on his side of the pitch, but for the most part he has been one of the midfielders behind the play with a better view of the attack and the ability to recycle possession and switch the play around.
Southgate picked up on that for England it appears, giving him room for Mount and Grealish. But instead of Mount being in a three, he was in a two. He couldn’t come out and press knowing two other midfielders could shift and cover for him. He had to stay put defensively. Beyond that, with only two players in the midfield, he had much more responsibility and less time on the ball. It didn’t matter.
Mount did fantastically in the role. Mind, it was just Ireland but it does show that it is an option for Chelsea at club level. Given Lampard tried so long to make 4-2-3-1 work, he might look at it again by putting Mount in deeper with Kai Havertz returning to a higher, more free role.
Lampard did try something similar with Ross Barkley at times last season and it was not nearly as bad as could have been assumed beforehand. Mount as one of the deeper players hinders his ability to press which is a negative, but it does offer Lampard another option in the buildup and lineup selection that he might not have seen or been willing to test himself previously.
4-3-3 with dual eights makes this largely moot, but Lampard has shown a propensity to use a back three against bigger teams. If he can keep roughly the same overall XI with Mount filling in as one of the two center midfielders, that would give Chelsea another dangerous and effective option to succeed. Like Grealish being able to play with Mount, it could do the same for players at Chelsea.