Chelsea's Midfield Conundrum

How do we fit these new midfielders in and how key are they in allowing us to compete again?

After years of neglecting the midfield, Chelsea have finally committed some serious money to address the glaringly obvious hole we’ve had in the heart of our team since Nemanja Matic departed in 2017. The Boehly/Clearlake consortium, driven by Co-Sporting Directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley have thankfully seen that the lack of quality and depth in midfield desperately needed addressing. 

Since January, Chelsea have broken the British transfer record twice and spent just over £270,000,000 on four midfielders. As you will know, those players are Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Romeo Lavia and Lesley Ugochukwu. There is no doubt that they are all quality young talents and to finally be able to say we’re blessed with quality and depth in the centre of the park is a very satisfying thing. 

However, it’s fair to say things have not gone to plan since they’ve arrived at the club. 

Enzo has undoubtedly been our best player since he joined the club just weeks after winning the World Cup with Argentina and being crowned Young Player of the Tournament, but even so, we’ve only won a handful of games since he joined the club. 

Caicedo’s start has been a mixed bag. He had a debut to forget against West Ham but was promising against Luton and Forest (even though he played a role in Forest’s goal) and then he picked up a knock away with Ecuador which is very frustrating. 

Lavia has been desperately unfortunate since joining the club, deemed not match-fit by Pochettino to begin with, he was finally nearing his debut with us before a training accident over the international break has him out of action for another month. 

Ugochucku was a player we expected to go on loan but has clearly impressed since his arrival from France. He made his first Premier League start away to Bournemouth last Sunday and I thought he held his own really well. 

So, we clearly have the midfield profiles and personnel that would make any club jealous, but injuries and some ‘interesting’ calls from Poch mean we haven’t seen the full potential of this midfield be unleashed yet, and in a time of doom and gloom I would like to provide some insight as to why there is light at the end of the tunnel, and why buying these players is a masterclass from the club.  

The midfield that I want to see Pochettino use and the one I think he will use are thankfully identical. That midfield is this: 

In simple terms, we’d have Lavia at the base of the midfield as his press resistance and short passing are excellent, he can also glide past players with ease. Caicedo would be played as the roaming destroyer, making use of his elite tackling and recovery skills, and then Enzo would play as the box-to-box midfielder and we all know what he can do on and off the ball. 

It’s crucial that Enzo doesn’t play as a number 10. We’ve seen it a couple of times this season where he’s played with his back to goal in the wrong areas of the pitch. He’s a world-class talent and you simply have to get the best out of him. The number 8 position allows that. That is not me saying he shouldn’t influence the attacking third though, quite the opposite, but he should be doing that by running from deep and influencing the play by moving the ball forward. He’ll also chip in with more goals and assists this way. He’ll be able to finish moves off in the box, as well as have more attempts at scoring from range. 

Poch is known to play some strange formations, notably with Chilwell on the wing and Colwill at left-back. This is because we have injuries, and that is not an excuse either. Poch simply cannot play the players he wants which is really making the team suffer. That being said, all the data points to us being a much better side than the points tally shows, even though that might not be a massive consolation to a lot of fans, it really makes me believe that when we get injured players back and can play this midfield trio, we will be on our way to becoming a top side. 

A midfield three of Caicedo, Enzo and Lavia has all the profiles that all great midfield trios have had and they’re only going to get better. Players like Ugochukwu, Gallagher and Chukwuemeka as cover are also perfect as we have players to fill every role when we inevitably are struck with more players on the treatment table.  

Lavia and Caicedo being so strong defensively would obviously allow Enzo to thrive in a box-to-box role but there’s another added bonus. Chilwell and Reece James would be able to bomb forward more often without the fear of lacking cover and leaving spaces in behind. Lavia and Caicedo are genuinely two of the best in world football at ‘clearing up mess’ as we saw last season when we played against them. They both have strong stats in key defensive areas like tackling, interceptions, recoveries and duels won. Getting the best out of Chilwell and Reece is key to Chelsea’s success. This midfield three would do just that. 

This is just me predicting here, but I also think it could see a reduction in the amount of games they spend on the sidelines too. In the past, if our flying fullbacks lost the ball, we’d likely have Jorginho and Kovacic to cover so Reece and Chilly would have to run the whole length of the pitch for us to win the ball back. Doing that so often puts a huge amount of strain on their bodies. My theory is that Lavia and Caicedo could nip those problems in the bud on both sides of the pitch and then start counter-attacks of our own which is great football-wise and would hopefully see less strain on our fullback’s bodies. 

One of the main criticisms this midfield would get is the lack of creativity it would bring as we wouldn’t be playing a number 10. I don’t think that’d be a huge problem. Man City (Rodri/KDB/Silva), Arsenal (Rice/Havertz/Odegaard) and Liverpool (Mac Allister/Endo/Szoboszlai) all play a 4-3-3 without a number 10. A lot of their creativity comes from their number 8, and Enzo is as good a creator as any in world football. The wingers and fullbacks also provide creativity and we have two of the best attacking fullbacks out there. We also have players like Nkunku, Palmer and even Mudryk who can create from wide areas. 

Creativity isn’t the problem for us, goalscoring is but that’s a topic that all fans could rant about for hours, luckily we know that we’re after Ivan Toney’s services in January as he’d almost be the missing piece of the puzzle for me, but, even if we don’t get him, Jackson and Broja both have heaps of potential too.

When (if) we have all players fit, I’d like to see us line up like this:

For me, that is a very balanced team and has profiles that Pochettino loves. I’m very confident that this side would do great things for us. There is also a lot of depth to that which is vital, especially with the vast amount of injuries we get. 

Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia are, in my opinion, an almost perfect midfield and it’s a trio that I genuinely believe can help take Chelsea back to where we want to be. I do think Pochettino will see it the same way and I do think this terrible run we’re on is sparked by the injuries we have. There is light at the end of the tunnel, Poch and these players will get us back to the top and I cannot wait to see them all in action together for us. UTC. 

By Will Reyner