“You can only register three. Someone had to miss out”, would be a valid talking point if none of the players had played before the selection. Badiashile had come in and looked completely in control, helping Chelsea to three consecutive clean sheets for only the second time this season. All anyone had seen of Mudryk was a 15-minute cameo where he had looked electric against Liverpool and missed two big chances.
The Blues trusted their centerback cast of Thiago Silva, Kalidou Koulibaly, Trevoh Chalobah, and Wesley Fofana. Before long Fofana and Silva were injured, leaving Potter and later Lampard, to play Marc Cucurella at Left centerback, a decision that Chelsea’s opponents enjoyed a lot.
Antonio Rudiger and Thiago Silva led Tuchel’s Blues last season in total passes into the final third, and both ranked in the top five for passes into the final third per 90, per FBRef. This season centerbacks aren’t leading in total passes into the final third, and the only centerback that ranks in the top five Chelsea players for passes into the final third per 90, is Badiashile.
The France international has shown his passing range since he’s come into the side and if the centerback pairing was selected on merit, the former Monaco defender should have started a lot more than 10 league games so far. Some claimed that Marc Cucurella started some league games over Badiashile to prepare Cucurella for upcoming Champions League games, which is the kind of situation clubs get into when they make dumb decisions such as leaving Badiashile out of the Champions League squad. Getting the ball to the final third means getting the ball to forwards, wingbacks, or strikers who can then find ways of developing attacks.
Badiashile arrived in January, but since he made his debut he has shown that he should be starting, and he wasn’t. No doubt, the constantly changing environment and coaching staff have impacted the managers decision to build some consistency, but the managers did not help themselves with who they consistently decided to leave out of lineups, especially Potter, who willingly left out Badiashile based on 15 minutes of electricity.