Nice analysis. Thanks for bringing it up. A few parts of it caught my attention as I admittedly don't know much about Andy (I'm with you on that one @; I'm not even going to try the supposed right pronunciation, Andy sounds as good as fine). Again - watched few matches from Bundesliga (definitely not my kind of league) and I can't say about quality, but going from this comment alone I can see Mourinho maybe trying to make Chelsea have a little bit of the explosive counter-attack Madrid had under his management. Of course di María is faster than any of our players, and Cris is quite fast himself and other key players like Marcelo, Ozil, Higuain/Benzema also have different characteristics compared to Azpilicueta, Cole, Oscar, Mata, Eden and Torres - although I do think Xabi also contributed a lot to those lethal, quick, counter-attacks with precise long passes. We need DM like Xabi Alonso (passing quality wise) in the team and maybe Kevin can be this guy as time goes (although I guess he fits better AM than DM). His passing is good in medium distance... he crosses better than Azpilicueta any day of the week (in case he has a chance to do so). Back to Andy though, I can see Mourinho getting him to play in a similar position to the one Cris plays in RM. If he's fast and accelerates like the article suggests (and seems okay in finishing) I can see Mourinho using him in that position especially if we don't sign someone to replace Torres. If he plays like that I don't see him competing with Eden. There's enough space for both of them to work in the left side of the pitch - it's not like Cole has been showing his face much in the wing. But I do feel our team is sort of unbalanced to the left side as it is. So I can see Schurrle playing more advanced, closer to Torres, having less defensive responsibilities and shooting more than our current AM do. It's almost a 4-2-2-2, but not quite, as Torres would still configure as the FW, probably assuming a CFW position. In this scenario I say Andy is almost a striker because he could have more freedom to move, change positions in the pitch, and attack more than Mata and Hazard, just like Cris had more freedom (actually he had all freedom) between himself, Ozil and di María. Mata would continue to be centered for most time, but stepping into the right wing to be a playermaker eventually, taking turns with Eden and even Andy at times. We do have a deficiency of players in that side of the attacking midfield - which is a problem as it makes the work all much easier to the opponent defense. But I guess it's less tragic if whoever goes assumes a position of playmaker. Cris doesn't have this problem as he's pretty amazing with both feet (something we could also use in the team) and although we see mostly on the left side, he had created amazing plays fromthe right side, scored goals, assisted - in the rare occasions he found himself obliged to pass the ball. Anyway, although is seems concentrated in the left, I can see Andy doing 2-1 (not sure this quick exchange of passes is called this in English) plays with Eden or Mata and moving towards the goal. It could fix our attacking issues - partially - but it creates another with the right side of the pitch... It seems I disagree with the person who wrote the article about defending responsibilities (though I do agree intercepting the ball and tackling isn't Eden's biggest trait). But being the first combat line is expected from anyone - even Torres (when he normally fouls the guys and gets booked). One thing I know for sure. If we're going to keep Torres, we need someone to play the same role Cristiano does in RM. The less we depend on Torres to score the better chances we have to actually score. Whether or not Andy can be this guy, I don't know. This post is much more wishful thinking than it is reasonable.
