Chelsea’s Jorginho: From boos to Europe’s player of the year

3. Better coverage in front and behind

One of the biggest overall criticisms of Jorginho overall has been his defensive contributions. This is one of the places where stats and the eye test can easily diverge. On the stats sheet, Jorginho is one of the best in the league and covers some of the most distance in the league. To the eye, however, it is hard not to notice the amount of times he gets caught in behind or out ran to a ball.

No one can really argue that Jorginho is an immensely physical player. He’s full of endurance and he’s not going to get thrown off the ball easily, but he is slow. While speed is often an overrate attribute, it’s less so when the player is the last man in midfield trying to track back. To overcome this, managers need to adapt to better shield the player.

This is one way in which Sarri was good for Jorginho. When Sarri’s Chelsea lost the ball, it wouldn’t immediately press for it back. Instead, the Blues would drop into a tight 4-4-2 shape before starting any press. This made them much harder to counter, even if it did delay the regain of possession. For Jorginho, this meant he was often bought time to take up better positions to screen any ball that made it through. There would still be moments when good opposition could break through the lines and leave Jorginho chasing, but for the most part he was able to be where he was needed due to the delay.

Just as Sarri comes out ahead here, Lampard comes out behind. Lampard’s Chelsea was very much geared towards the concept of “if we score more we win.” The Blues would commit so many bodies forward that it would not be unusual to see only two or three players left back for a counter. Now, if a press is good enough, this isn’t a terrible concept. But the press wasn’t often up to task. If the ball was not won quickly, the Blues were wide open and often outnumbered for the counter. This increased the amount of times Jorginho would be caught in behind due to his pace. It’s why Lampard was so desperate for a defensive midfielder and why he would use Kante more often in the role than others. To him, Jorginho simply did not have the physical attributes to fulfill the needs of the team.

Again, this is where Tuchel comes down somewhere in the middle. Under Tuchel, Jorginho is better shielded from in front and behind and this allows the player himself to have more time to screen the ball. Tuchel’s press regularly involves the closest players to the ball immediately pressing while others drop back to the next line. This creates a “net” that slows down the opponent’s possession if they do not go long. This, like Sarri’s defensive set-up, buys Jorginho time to position himself well enough to overcome any physical deficiencies.

On the other end, the extra centerback allows Jorginho to be more aggressive in his positioning. With Lampard, Jorginho would often have to consider being closer to the back line to help if needed. But the natural third centerback takes Jorginho’s place, allowing him to push higher and screen for the ball sooner. Furthermore, even if the ball does get past the midfield, that extra centerback serves as an extra road bump that buys Jorginho time to get back. Overall, this screening system brings the best out of Jorginho’s defensive abilities.

Italy also adds another layer. The term regista is most often associated with Andrea Pirlo. To get the best out of that role, Conte surrounded Pirlo with two work horse midfielders in Marchisio and Arturo Vidal. Similarly, at Napoli, Jorginho was surrounded by Marek Hamsik and Allan. For Italy, it was Nicolo Barella and Marco Verratti either side of Jorginho. In a three man midfield, having these hard-working midfielders acts in the same way the defensive shapes and presses do. They provide a net to filter the ball before it reaches Jorginho, allowing him to take up better positions to screen. What Chelsea has often lacked is two midfielders of that ilk to do the same for Jorginho, which is why the shape and press around him has had to adapt to bring the best out of him.