Chelsea: Decisions on Tammy Abraham and Mateo Kovacic looming
By Oliver Smith
Crucial decisions need to be made soon as to which players are going to get regular playing time in Chelsea’s starting XI.
The genesis of this article came, not from Olivier Giroud’s excellence in Spain, but the return of American winger Christian Pulisic and German midfielder Kai Havertz. With both Pulisic and Havertz out for injury and COVID isolation respectively, manager Frank Lampard had an easy time selecting his best XI. As Pulisic and Havertz return to full fitness though, it is only natural that Tammy Abraham, despite his recent run of goals, would feel the pressure.
Pulisic is the best winger at the club, and an out and out winger at that—something the club lacks outside of Callum Hudson-Odoi. Hakim Ziyech is proving to be the difference maker on the right flank, and you don’t spend £80 million on Kai Havertz for him to sit on the bench, in spite of his rocky start. Timo Werner has been playing the left wing, something he has done with aplomb, and the 24-year-old would continue to perform in that role. Yet, that was more because the team didn’t have Pulisic rather than the fact that Abraham’s play had forced him to the left wing in order to get on the pitch.
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The fact that Olivier Giroud is showing he is still a very capable centre forward only adds to the pressures on Abraham’s young shoulders. The Abraham-Giroud debate is its own entire problem for Lampard with both players offering something completely different. While Giroud has shown he can still play a very important focal point role; the fluidity Abraham makes possible is the crux of how Lampard wants his team to play.
How Lampard deploys these two different styles will go a long way in proving if he is truly capable of a long-term position in elite management. The more pressing issue for Abraham at this moment comes not from Giroud, but as outlined above, Pulisic and Havertz.
Pulisic is still working his way back from injury, and that much was evident in the Blues’ Champions League game against Sevilla on Wednesday. The American wasn’t as sharp and clinical as Chelsea fans have become accustomed to seeing. His runs not quite as darting, shots not as venomous. Yet, when Pulisic is back in fighting shape, there is no doubt he will reclaim the left wing, which brings the question of where to play Werner.
Lampard has no option but to swap out Abraham for Werner. For all of Abraham’s good play in recent weeks, he has been one of the standout performers even when he isn’t scoring, Werner is just that much better than him. An ardent watcher of Chelsea could point to Werner looking flat out exhausted as the reason to the somewhat dry spell in front of goal. Lampard has been playing Werner a lot, but even 60 minutes of Werner is better than nothing, and the Blues boss knows that.
Furthermore, Abraham, with his speed and movement, could excel in the last 30 minutes of a game. After Werner has run defenders ragged, what better move could Lampard pull than bringing on a hungry Abraham—who is quick with very good movement, not to mention size. To start Abraham over Werner though? No, never.
The last time that Lampard had all of his new charges available for a game he deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation, yet with those injuries and absences, Lampard shifted to a 4-3-3. The change brought more defensively solidity, and while it stunted the attack at the start, the 4-3-3 is paying dividends now. If Lampard wishes to continue to play the 4-3-3, not only would it appear that Abraham would have to drop out, but that Havertz would have to slot in instead of Mateo Kovacic. There is no chance Mason Mount or N’Golo Kante is coming off of the teamsheet, so last year’s Player of the Season could be the casualty.
It would be a tough turn for the Croatian midfielder, who has been excellent on the right side of the midfield three, allowing Mount more freedom and providing cover for Kante. It remains to be seen if Havertz is able to play the type of role that Kovacic has been playing.
There is no doubt that Chelsea has been nearly flawless at the back since Kante moved into that deeper midfield role, and that will play on Lampard’s mind. You would be hard pressed to see the manager want to go back to the open floodgate defence of last year. Kante’s return to success has been in large part to the help he has received from Kovacic, and Havertz isn’t performing at his best yet in a Chelsea shirt, let alone in a new position. For all of his talents, it could be a risk for Lampard to deploy him in there instead of the Croatian.
The catch is that no one expects Havertz to be on the bench if he is fully fit. Maybe he adapts to the new role, or Lampard is back to the drawing board to find a better way to deploy his £80 million man.
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As Pulisic and Havertz return to match fitness, Lampard has time to find the best blend of his players, for now. Decisions on Abraham and Kovacic are looming. All that is certain is that someone who has been performing well is going to drop out of the starting XI. Perhaps that is just the price you have to pay as a manager when you’ve brought in the kind of players Lampard has.