Villa 0-2 Chelsea: 3 things learned from another Blues win

Raheem Sterling is not a wingback

Cucurella’s 91.8 per cent pass success rate and his one unsuccessful touch statistics from the Villa game are deceiving. Essentially two or three of his passes put himself, teammates or the team as a whole under immense pressure in the Midlands. A 45 minutes to forget for the sometimes leftback, but definitely specialist wingback. You can’t really blame him for being uneasy when incongruous, either.

Similarly, as previously mentioned, Sterling is also playing in a new area. I don’t believe Reece James’s absence justifies the 27-year-old covering. And this is a capacity is fairly drastically separated from Sterling’s typical role: he now has defensive responsibilities. The initial time the boss decided to begin a match with the England international as a left wingback was versus RB Salzburg. Don’t get me wrong, the latter was a real threat on the attack, with a delicate left-foot cross that I don’t think many of us knew about. Yet his defensive lapse led to another error and ultimately conceding.

Sterling’s best attributes are drawing fullbacks and the like away from their own duties and consequently opening up pockets of space for other forwards. In addition, he can dribble well now and again, but can be devastating when using the quick one-two pass and creating or finishing goals himself. He is never going to be an elite defender or one who can justifiably deliver at this level in attempting to stop great top-flight wingers.

If I were Potter, I would concentrate on Sterling’s confidence on the wing with no responsibility other than to perform in the opposition box. This way, more of the ex-Manchester City man’s energy can be concentrated on pressing, too.