🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Frank Lampard

[Alabama 1,992]

Lampard and Willian....

Match made in hell...

 

[Vesper 30,175]

Chelsea injuries explained: last season’s legacy, bad luck and reliance on youth

https://theathletic.com/1669134/2020/03/12/chelsea-injuries-frank-lampard/

Two big victories at Stamford Bridge within the space of five days have changed the complexion of a defining stretch of Chelsea’s season. Had they gone out of the FA Cup to Liverpool and fallen out of fourth place with more dropped points against Everton, anxiety would likely have become the prevailing mood — and much of the inquest around the team’s struggles would focus on injuries.

Frank Lampard is unable to call upon top scorer Tammy Abraham (ankle), N’Golo Kante (thigh), Christian Pulisic (thigh), Callum Hudson-Odoi (hamstring) and Mateo Kovacic (achilles soreness), while Mason Mount has been receiving treatment at Cobham for a knock to the knee sustained in Sunday’s win.

When you factor in Jorginho’s suspension and that Ruben Loftus-Cheek is still being carefully managed back to peak condition after a serious achilles rupture, Chelsea are saddled by a list of absentees comparable only to Bournemouth (10 players out), Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur (seven each) among Premier League clubs.

Jose Mourinho memorably said Tottenham’s injury problems made him wish he could fast-forward to July 1 after their loss at Stamford Bridge last month. Lampard has struck a more upbeat tone in public, stressing that “injuries mean opportunities” after the Everton win, but behind the scenes he is every bit as frustrated.

Chelsea emerged from their February break with a longer injury list than the one they had entering it, and the situation was made worse when Hudson-Odoi aggravated a hamstring injury during his first training session back with the squad last Thursday. The winger faces another spell on the sidelines while he waits for the muscle to heal.

Hudson-Odoi became the third Chelsea player this season to suffer a re-injury after Pulisic and Emerson, who started a league match against Liverpool in September just a fortnight after picking up a thigh problem on Italy duty only to have to be replaced with 15 minutes played. Pulisic has been out for more than a month since attempting to return to more intense training having not played since New Year’s Day.

These cases have led some outside Chelsea to question the approach of the club’s fitness and medical staff, but the reality of the players’ differing situations is much more complex.

Emerson posted on social media after his enforced substitution in the eighth minute of Italy’s 2-1 win over Finland in September to reassure the fans his thigh injury was not serious, and insisted he felt good in the lead-up to that Liverpool game. Assessment from Chelsea’s medical staff backed up his confidence, and Lampard took both into account when picking his team that day.

Pulisic, 21, felt ready to increase his workload at Cobham by the end of January. Having suffered a similar adductor muscle (found in the thigh) injury during his playing career, Lampard was aware of how difficult the problem can be to shift. The American’s subsequent negative reaction to training wasn’t regarded as a setback, but rather as a young player learning about his body’s recovery rate.

Hudson-Odoi was kept out of action for more than a month before the decision was taken to bring the 19-year-old back into training last week, and there is an acceptance that recovery from hamstring injuries is always a delicate process with considerable variance in recovery time. The particular setback is not expected to sideline him for much longer.

Lampard is not pointing fingers. “I haven’t seen that, and I wouldn’t label it on any one department,” he insisted when asked about criticism of their injury record.

The numbers do suggest Chelsea are suffering more injuries than in previous seasons.

Data compiled by injury analyst Ben Dinnery of premierinjuries.com shows they have suffered 25 separate injuries or illnesses this season, a number surpassed only by Manchester United (26) among the traditional ‘Big Six’ clubs.

That said, most of their rivals have been comparably affected: Tottenham and Liverpool have had 24 injuries, Arsenal 23 and Manchester City 19. In terms of days lost to injury or illness, Chelsea (614) have been less affected than any of the ‘Big Six’ except City (548).

These figures only account for injuries or illnesses significant enough to result in at least one game missed, and injuries carried over from last season are not included — arguably the biggest contributor to Chelsea’s injury problems this term, and the factor that is impossible to lay at the feet of Lampard.

“When we came into this club the injuries that were overlapping from last season were huge,” Lampard said last week. “N’Golo Kante, Toni Rudiger, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who is yet to kick a ball, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Willian, who had an injury from the start of the season after the internationals. They were there from last year, it has definitely been an issue.

“Now we have another bulk. Christian Pulisic has been out for two months, N’Golo Kante has played 50 per cent of our games when he generally plays 100 per cent. It has been slightly looked at differently with us, with the transfer ban or youth. It has been a big issue for us without a doubt.

“For me, to lose N’Golo Kante, one of the greatest midfielders in the world and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, one of the most exciting English midfield players in the Premier League, is a huge loss for us.”

Kante has played in just 22 of Chelsea’s 42 matches this season, by far the biggest sustained run of injuries of his career. The knee injury that hampered his preparations for last season’s Europa League final disrupted his pre-season, and the knock-on effects are believed to have contributed to the ankle, hamstring and adductor muscle problems he has had since.

Rudiger has featured 16 times this season across all competitions, having undergone knee surgery in the final stretch of the 2018-19 campaign. In his first game back, in the 5-2 win against Wolves at Molineux in September, he slipped on a metal grate by the touchline and aggravated a groin injury that had first troubled him last season under Maurizio Sarri, leading to another three months on the sidelines.

Hudson-Odoi and Loftus-Cheek both sustained achilles ruptures in the final weeks of Sarri’s tenure, while Reece James picked up a serious ankle injury on England Under-20 duty in June. Caution was the guiding philosophy of the rehabilitation process in each case, which is part of the reason why, 10 months on from his injury, Loftus-Cheek is yet to make a first-team comeback.

Chelsea’s injury record in recent seasons had been excellent. They have had fewer injuries or illnesses and endured fewer days lost than their Big Six rivals in three of the last five seasons, including the 2014-15 and 2016-17 campaigns that brought Premier League titles.

There has been considerable turnover in the first-team coaching staff during that period of course, but Paco Biosca, the club’s medical director, has been in his post since 2011. Chris Jones initially became a first-team fitness coach in March 2012 and stayed until Lampard convinced him to join his Derby County staff last season, then brought him back when he succeeded Sarri in the summer.

Lampard credited Jones’s methods with helping him to continue playing at a high level for Chelsea into his 30s, and Jones worked under Mourinho and Antonio Conte as part of a team that oversaw a relatively low injury rate. The club’s large sports science department, led by Tim Harkness, has remained largely constant through several coaching changes, as have the club’s physios.

Among the few new faces this season are Andy Kasper, a highly-regarded performance nutritionist hired last summer to work with the first team, while strength and conditioning coach Adam Burrows came from Derby with Lampard and Jones. Burrows was credited with helping Mount navigate his first Championship campaign while on loan last season.

Chelsea’s first-team squad train on the same pitches at Cobham and use similar equipment to when their injury record was the envy of many of their Premier League rivals — and while Lampard favours intense training sessions, they are no more physically taxing than when Mourinho or Conte were in charge.

Lampard wants his players to train as they play, believing this intensity to be the only way Chelsea can hope to close the vast gap that Manchester City and Liverpool have opened up to the rest of the Premier League. He does, however, stress that sessions should be varied and fun.

Players responded well to Lampard’s approach when it was first introduced, and all the indications are that it is still more popular than the repetitive drills favoured by Conte and Sarri.

“Training was very regimented,” former reserve goalkeeper Rob Green told The Athletic when asked about Sarri’s approach this season. “I remember Olivier Giroud and I sat down and figured out how many times we’d done exactly the same session. We worked out that, over a course of the season, there were only 18 days where we hadn’t done the same thing.

“I can understand why people in the squad who just love and want to play football were thinking, ‘What’s the point of this?’”

Chelsea’s injury issues are regarded internally as a legacy of last season, partly plain bad luck and partly an inevitable consequence of competing across several competitions with a squad deprived of significant reinforcement in the last two transfer windows, leading to greater reliance on young players who are still adjusting to this level of physical workload.

There is hope that the injury list will shorten considerably as the final stretch of the season approaches.

No blame game is taking place — only Lampard continuing to preach that standards are maintained and opportunities to impress are taken.

[MoroccanBlue 5,382]

Not to sound extremely selfish but any decision the FA makes goes in our favor?

Season is null and void, we are still in the CL. 

Season ends how it is, we are still in the CL. 

Only the matter of whether there will be a summer window 

[Superblue 6,372]

14 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Not to sound extremely selfish but any decision the FA makes goes in our favor?

Season is null and void, we are still in the CL. 

Season ends how it is, we are still in the CL. 

Only the matter of whether there will be a summer window 

They will have to come to some form of decision in my opinion because I don't see this season resuming anytime soon, as the virus in this country is only going to get worse over the coming weeks.

I can't see how it's possible to resume the season or have it still operating after June. Clubs, including ourselves, have players out of contract at that point who are under no obligation to continue playing for us beyond that point. We also have the Ziyech deal already in place so are we going to continue a season whilst the transfer window is open?

I've heard some rumours that there's a rule in place that the final places stand if the league is 75% or more complete and cannot be finished. This would mean 29 games played which most have, but in some cases teams have only played 28 games.

Whatever they decide to do, some teams will be affected in a negative manner and I believe with the amount of money riding on things, there will be legal battles to follow in some circumstances.

[Laylabelle 9,535]

Summary of Skysports article

An emergency Premier League meeting is set to take place on Thursday when football chiefs will decide what happens next.
If the season is not completed then these are some of the possible scenarios:
Give the title to Liverpool and have no relegations this season. Next season there would be 22 teams in the Premier League - with West Brom and Leeds promoted from the Championship

The season is declared null and void and next season begins with the same 20 teams - unlikely, especially because Liverpool are 25 points clear at the top of the table and have all but won their first title for 30 years

The table as it stands now is the final table - unlikely, because it would be unfair to relegate Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Norwich after only 29 matchdays and Villa have played 28

 

[Jase 43,479]

25 minutes ago, Mana said:

As long Wolves remain in the Europa League, this "5th" place is in jeopardy. If Wolves win the EL, they get automatic qualification for CL.

Meaning whoever ends up in "5th" place, will not get CL next season unless Wolves end up 3rd or 4th.

Remember, only 4 English teams can enter the CL per season, not 5.

I don't like voiding the season, but voiding it does benefit us, as nothing this season is benefiting us.

Unless UEFA have suddenly changed the rules again, you're wrong. Up to 5 teams from a single country can qualify for the Champions League.

https://www.premierleague.com/european-qualification-explained

If City's ban does stick, then 5th will be a Champions League spot. If Wolves finish in the Top 5 AND win the Europa League, then yes, only teams in the Top 5 (excluding City) will qualify for the Champions League. HOWEVER, if Wolves do not finish in the Top 5 BUT win the Europa League, then they will qualify for the Champions League along with the teams in the Top 5 (excluding City).

If City's ban gets overturned, then just replace 5th with 4th and Top 5 with Top 4 above.

[Vesper 30,175]

Straight Outta Cobham

The Athletic's experts on Chelsea - Simon Johnson, Liam Twomey and Dom Fifield are alongside Matt Davies-Adams to take you behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge and bring you the very best insight on all the latest goings on at Chelsea Football Club

 

Re-Injuries & A Losing Battle For Bellingham

 

Plenty of new still coming 'Straight Outta Cobham' as Matt Davies-Adams and The Athletic's Chelsea experts reconvene to discuss the injury concerns beyond the Coronavirus, the losing battle to sign teenage sensation Jude Bellingham & Jorginho's future...
Plus, Liam Twomey, Simon Johnson and Dominic Fifield also reminisce about this week's cult hero: The Flying Dutchman, Arjen Robben!

 

 

https://theathletic.com/podcast/139-straight-outta-cobham/?episode=18

[Vesper 30,175]

What is Lampard’s best Chelsea XI when everyone is fit?

https://theathletic.com/1689889/2020/03/20/lampard-chelsea-starting-xi-injuries/

The sudden shutdown of English and European football has had significant consequences for Chelsea. The first-team squad are still self-isolating at home after Callum Hudson-Odoi tested positive for coronavirus, Cobham remains in partial lockdown and operations at Stamford Bridge have been scaled back to such a degree that stadium tours have been suspended until at least next month, while the Millennium Hotel has been made available to accommodate NHS hospital staff.

It could be some time before Frank Lampard is able to work normally with his players again. When he does, however, the one sliver of a silver lining is that Chelsea will not be required to navigate the defining stretch of the Premier League season with one of the longest injury lists in the division.

Hudson-Odoi (hamstring), N’Golo Kante (adductor), Tammy Abraham (ankle), Mateo Kovacic (achilles) and Christian Pulisic (adductor) should all be good to go if the Premier League resumes in early June, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek will feel the benefit of several extra weeks to improve his fitness after a serious achilles rupture.

More options means more decisions. What is Lampard’s best starting XI? The Athletic has decided to risk your ridicule by proposing a team.

But just before we begin, a couple of disclaimers:

1) Hakim Ziyech does not feature in this list. Even if this Premier League season runs beyond June 30, under the current rules, he would not be able to be registered in Chelsea’s 25-man squad for the competition. He can be left for next season’s debate.

2) Willian, Pedro, Olivier Giroud and Willy Caballero are all set to become free agents on July 1 but, for the sake of simplicity, all are assumed to be eligible for the duration here.

With that in mind, here we go…

The formation

Lampard has alternated between 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 and 3-4-2-1 at different times this season, in response to both the tactical challenges posed by Chelsea’s opponents and the form or fitness of his own players. All three have yielded mixed results but, as written earlier this month, 4-3-3 has produced the highest consistent level of performance — a conclusion reinforced by convincing back-to-back home wins against Liverpool and Everton immediately prior to the coronavirus shutdown.

It makes most sense, then, to arrange this team in a 4-3-3 formation, mindful of the fact that doing so will count against certain players who function best in different systems (apologies in advance, Marcos Alonso). And with that, on to the selections…

Goalkeeper

Kepa’s struggles this season have been very well documented, from his startlingly poor advanced save metrics to his at times shaky distribution with the ball at his feet and command of his area. Lampard ran out of patience following the 2-2 draw with 10-man Arsenal in January, benching the Spaniard for Chelsea’s next six matches.

Willy Caballero came in and performed solidly enough but Kepa is still the clear pick here. While his form since arriving at Stamford Bridge has not justified the “world’s most expensive goalkeeper” tag, he has a far higher performance ceiling and, at 25, has room to grow. Caballero, at 38, does not.

Kepa’s impressive displays upon regaining his place against Liverpool and Everton also suggested his time on the bench may have succeeded in refocusing his mind.

Defence

Alonso’s eye for goal has helped reinvigorate Chelsea’s attack at a crucial stage of the season, and in terms of intelligence, anticipation and execution, he might be the most talented goalscoring defender in the club’s history. But he is a wing-back, not a full-back. He cannot be consistently relied upon to defend his position without the safety net of a centre-back patrolling the space behind him.

Emerson has all of the physical and technical tools for the left-back job but his body of work at Chelsea has been largely disappointing. He is too frequently caught upfield in key moments but without offering much of a threat to actually break down opposition defences.

Cesar Azpilicueta is a far superior one-on-one defender than both and still offers a reasonable crossing threat from the left, even if the need to cut back onto his right foot does occasionally hinder the team’s attack. Just as importantly, shifting him to the position where he won the Premier League title in 2014-15 also allows Reece James to come in at right-back.

James is special. An athlete with the technical comfort level on the ball of a midfielder, his spectacular crossing ability will be a key weapon in Chelsea sides for years to come. In this team, his frequent forward surges can be offset by Azpilicueta dropping in from the opposite flank to form a three-man defence with the two centre-backs.

The middle of the back four is considerably trickier. Lampard has tried six different centre-back partnerships across all competitions this season — not including the matches when Chelsea have lined up in a back three — and none have staked an overwhelming claim. Kurt Zouma, Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Fikayo Tomori are all talented defenders with different individual strengths and weaknesses but the chemistry of a partnership also has to be taken into account.

Zouma has played more Premier League minutes than any of the others, and it’s easy to see why. In a worryingly-small Chelsea team, he is the only player who could legitimately be classed as aerially dominant, winning 74.4 per cent of his duels in the air. That physicality is the main reason he has to be in this team, in spite of his occasionally erratic positioning and clumsy style in possession.

Rudiger, Christensen and Tomori all have relatively equal cases to start alongside him, but Zouma-Tomori was the partnership that provided the foundation for Chelsea’s best run of form this season in the autumn, punctuated by a brilliant 1-0 defeat of Ajax in Amsterdam. Tomori has fallen out of favour in recent weeks and endured a horrible day against Bournemouth last month. But at his best, his speed across the ground, sound defensive instincts and solid passing complement Zouma well.

Midfield

No other area of Lampard’s squad has so many high-quality options, so collective fit is vital here. The three most high-profile Chelsea midfielders are Jorginho, Kante and Kovacic but a season beset by stodgy attacking performances under Maurizio Sarri provided ample evidence that playing all three together does not give the team enough creativity or threat in the final third.

At the other end of the spectrum, Billy Gilmour’s two masterclasses against Everton and Liverpool have catapulted him into a conversation that would not have even included him a month ago.

His intelligence, passing range and general poise are all incredible for an 18-year-old and he also showed hugely-encouraging defensive understanding of the No 6 position across both games. Ultimately, 180 minutes is too small a body of work for Gilmour to push his way into this team but, make no mistake, with everything he has shown so far, it would not be a surprise if he made his omission here look very silly very soon.

Kante is Chelsea’s only world-class player and has shown on the rare occasions when he has been fit this season that he can still profoundly impact matches at the highest level. Kovacic has arguably been the most consistently impressive performer under Lampard this season, frequently getting the team on the front foot with his remarkable ability to slalom through an opposition press.

Both need to be in this team, which means Jorginho cannot be. Kovacic is more than capable of setting the tempo of Chelsea’s passing as a No 6, while Jorginho’s physical and defensive limitations offset the rare quality he brings to the team with the ball at his feet. Kovacic has his own problems reading danger but that is why Kante is beside him.

The presence of Kante and Kovacic also means the goal threat from Chelsea’s midfield must come from the third member of the trio. Mason Mount and Ross Barkley have each shown flashes of being able to supply that, and both were on sparkling form with and without the ball either side of Gilmour in Chelsea’s 3-0 win against Everton earlier this month.

But cast your mind back to last season and an even better candidate emerges. Loftus-Cheek blossomed into one of Chelsea’s most important players in the final months of Sarri’s tenure, breaking from midfield to score against Cardiff, Brighton, Watford and Eintracht Frankfurt — strikes that saw him break into double figures for goals in the campaign.

Loftus-Cheek’s unique blend of physical and technical attributes complete this midfield and his intelligent runs into the opposition penalty area offer what Kovacic and Kante mostly cannot. It has been a long time since he was able to show it but at his best, he gets into this team.

Attack

Olivier Giroud’s return to form has come at a key time for Lampard and, for the first time this season, created a genuine debate about Chelsea’s best No 9 — particularly in light of the fact that Tammy Abraham’s star has not shone quite so brightly since the turn of the year.

Abraham’s dip in production cannot easily be separated from the freak ankle injury he sustained colliding with an advertising hoarding during the Arsenal draw, however. He remains Chelsea’s top scorer with 13 goals in the Premier League and his expected goals per 90 minutes (xG90) rating of 0.61 is still significantly better than that of Giroud (0.45).

Giroud’s best attribute is his ability to make those around him better with smart hold and link-up play, so it is no surprise that his expected assists per 90 (xA90) of 0.20 is better than Abraham’s 0.13. But goals are the main requirement for a striker in this Chelsea team, so Abraham gets the nod. The less said about Michy Batshuayi’s form this season, the better.

On the left of the front three, Christian Pulisic is a no-brainer. The American ranks behind only Abraham in xG90 (0.51) among regular Chelsea starters, providing a much-needed secondary punch to the attack. His ability to move dangerously with and without the ball is unrivalled among Lampard’s wing options, and he is also a perfect fit for a high-intensity pressing style.

The opposite flank presents tougher choices. Hudson-Odoi is a tantalising talent who has shown exciting flashes in tandem with an overlapping James, and he is gradually learning how to incorporate the incisive runs that Pulisic regularly makes into the six-yard box into his own game. But he is also yet to truly blossom in the Premier League, his development slowed by injuries.

Pedro does not merit serious consideration on either flank because, on the rare occasions he has played this season, he has generally looked a shadow of the wide forward who proved so dangerous in Antonio Conte’s best Chelsea team. That leaves Willian, forever trusted by his managers and forever divisive among supporters.

The pure goal and assist numbers have always been underwhelming for Willian, but his other qualities make him a sensible choice to complete this team. His 2.38 key passes per 90 minutes (KP90) mark him out as more creative than any of Chelsea’s other wing options, and his dribble success rate of 65 per cent also marks him out as the most reliable ball carrier.

Out of possession, Willian’s defensive contribution offers some tactical balance. He has the best duel success rate (59.3 per cent) and tackle success rate (61.5 per cent) of Chelsea’s wingers. Hudson-Odoi may be ready to take his spot as soon as next season but for now, the Brazilian remains one of the experienced heads in a team not short on youth.

Full team (4-3-3): Kepa; James, Zouma, Tomori, Azpilicueta; Kante, Kovacic, Loftus-Cheek; Willian, Abraham, Pulisic

What do you think of these selections? Let me know in the comments below — and please be kind!

[Vesper 30,175]

ugh

Azpi at LB and Kante rammed in

hard pass

[killer1257 3,282]

My midfield for next season would be:

Kova-RLC-Billy G

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

[NikkiCFC 8,319]

6 hours ago, Vesper said:

ugh

Azpi at LB and Kante rammed in

hard pass

Plus Tammy over Giroud and Tomori over Rudiger.

[communicate 2,703]

On 3/21/2020 at 9:58 PM, Vesper said:

What is Lampard’s best Chelsea XI when everyone is fit?

https://theathletic.com/1689889/2020/03/20/lampard-chelsea-starting-xi-injuries/

The sudden shutdown of English and European football has had significant consequences for Chelsea. The first-team squad are still self-isolating at home after Callum Hudson-Odoi tested positive for coronavirus, Cobham remains in partial lockdown and operations at Stamford Bridge have been scaled back to such a degree that stadium tours have been suspended until at least next month, while the Millennium Hotel has been made available to accommodate NHS hospital staff.

It could be some time before Frank Lampard is able to work normally with his players again. When he does, however, the one sliver of a silver lining is that Chelsea will not be required to navigate the defining stretch of the Premier League season with one of the longest injury lists in the division.

Hudson-Odoi (hamstring), N’Golo Kante (adductor), Tammy Abraham (ankle), Mateo Kovacic (achilles) and Christian Pulisic (adductor) should all be good to go if the Premier League resumes in early June, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek will feel the benefit of several extra weeks to improve his fitness after a serious achilles rupture.

More options means more decisions. What is Lampard’s best starting XI? The Athletic has decided to risk your ridicule by proposing a team.

But just before we begin, a couple of disclaimers:

1) Hakim Ziyech does not feature in this list. Even if this Premier League season runs beyond June 30, under the current rules, he would not be able to be registered in Chelsea’s 25-man squad for the competition. He can be left for next season’s debate.

2) Willian, Pedro, Olivier Giroud and Willy Caballero are all set to become free agents on July 1 but, for the sake of simplicity, all are assumed to be eligible for the duration here.

With that in mind, here we go…

The formation

Lampard has alternated between 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 and 3-4-2-1 at different times this season, in response to both the tactical challenges posed by Chelsea’s opponents and the form or fitness of his own players. All three have yielded mixed results but, as written earlier this month, 4-3-3 has produced the highest consistent level of performance — a conclusion reinforced by convincing back-to-back home wins against Liverpool and Everton immediately prior to the coronavirus shutdown.

It makes most sense, then, to arrange this team in a 4-3-3 formation, mindful of the fact that doing so will count against certain players who function best in different systems (apologies in advance, Marcos Alonso). And with that, on to the selections…

Goalkeeper

Kepa’s struggles this season have been very well documented, from his startlingly poor advanced save metrics to his at times shaky distribution with the ball at his feet and command of his area. Lampard ran out of patience following the 2-2 draw with 10-man Arsenal in January, benching the Spaniard for Chelsea’s next six matches.

Willy Caballero came in and performed solidly enough but Kepa is still the clear pick here. While his form since arriving at Stamford Bridge has not justified the “world’s most expensive goalkeeper” tag, he has a far higher performance ceiling and, at 25, has room to grow. Caballero, at 38, does not.

Kepa’s impressive displays upon regaining his place against Liverpool and Everton also suggested his time on the bench may have succeeded in refocusing his mind.

Defence

Alonso’s eye for goal has helped reinvigorate Chelsea’s attack at a crucial stage of the season, and in terms of intelligence, anticipation and execution, he might be the most talented goalscoring defender in the club’s history. But he is a wing-back, not a full-back. He cannot be consistently relied upon to defend his position without the safety net of a centre-back patrolling the space behind him.

Emerson has all of the physical and technical tools for the left-back job but his body of work at Chelsea has been largely disappointing. He is too frequently caught upfield in key moments but without offering much of a threat to actually break down opposition defences.

Cesar Azpilicueta is a far superior one-on-one defender than both and still offers a reasonable crossing threat from the left, even if the need to cut back onto his right foot does occasionally hinder the team’s attack. Just as importantly, shifting him to the position where he won the Premier League title in 2014-15 also allows Reece James to come in at right-back.

James is special. An athlete with the technical comfort level on the ball of a midfielder, his spectacular crossing ability will be a key weapon in Chelsea sides for years to come. In this team, his frequent forward surges can be offset by Azpilicueta dropping in from the opposite flank to form a three-man defence with the two centre-backs.

The middle of the back four is considerably trickier. Lampard has tried six different centre-back partnerships across all competitions this season — not including the matches when Chelsea have lined up in a back three — and none have staked an overwhelming claim. Kurt Zouma, Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Fikayo Tomori are all talented defenders with different individual strengths and weaknesses but the chemistry of a partnership also has to be taken into account.

Zouma has played more Premier League minutes than any of the others, and it’s easy to see why. In a worryingly-small Chelsea team, he is the only player who could legitimately be classed as aerially dominant, winning 74.4 per cent of his duels in the air. That physicality is the main reason he has to be in this team, in spite of his occasionally erratic positioning and clumsy style in possession.

Rudiger, Christensen and Tomori all have relatively equal cases to start alongside him, but Zouma-Tomori was the partnership that provided the foundation for Chelsea’s best run of form this season in the autumn, punctuated by a brilliant 1-0 defeat of Ajax in Amsterdam. Tomori has fallen out of favour in recent weeks and endured a horrible day against Bournemouth last month. But at his best, his speed across the ground, sound defensive instincts and solid passing complement Zouma well.

Midfield

No other area of Lampard’s squad has so many high-quality options, so collective fit is vital here. The three most high-profile Chelsea midfielders are Jorginho, Kante and Kovacic but a season beset by stodgy attacking performances under Maurizio Sarri provided ample evidence that playing all three together does not give the team enough creativity or threat in the final third.

At the other end of the spectrum, Billy Gilmour’s two masterclasses against Everton and Liverpool have catapulted him into a conversation that would not have even included him a month ago.

His intelligence, passing range and general poise are all incredible for an 18-year-old and he also showed hugely-encouraging defensive understanding of the No 6 position across both games. Ultimately, 180 minutes is too small a body of work for Gilmour to push his way into this team but, make no mistake, with everything he has shown so far, it would not be a surprise if he made his omission here look very silly very soon.

Kante is Chelsea’s only world-class player and has shown on the rare occasions when he has been fit this season that he can still profoundly impact matches at the highest level. Kovacic has arguably been the most consistently impressive performer under Lampard this season, frequently getting the team on the front foot with his remarkable ability to slalom through an opposition press.

Both need to be in this team, which means Jorginho cannot be. Kovacic is more than capable of setting the tempo of Chelsea’s passing as a No 6, while Jorginho’s physical and defensive limitations offset the rare quality he brings to the team with the ball at his feet. Kovacic has his own problems reading danger but that is why Kante is beside him.

The presence of Kante and Kovacic also means the goal threat from Chelsea’s midfield must come from the third member of the trio. Mason Mount and Ross Barkley have each shown flashes of being able to supply that, and both were on sparkling form with and without the ball either side of Gilmour in Chelsea’s 3-0 win against Everton earlier this month.

But cast your mind back to last season and an even better candidate emerges. Loftus-Cheek blossomed into one of Chelsea’s most important players in the final months of Sarri’s tenure, breaking from midfield to score against Cardiff, Brighton, Watford and Eintracht Frankfurt — strikes that saw him break into double figures for goals in the campaign.

Loftus-Cheek’s unique blend of physical and technical attributes complete this midfield and his intelligent runs into the opposition penalty area offer what Kovacic and Kante mostly cannot. It has been a long time since he was able to show it but at his best, he gets into this team.

Attack

Olivier Giroud’s return to form has come at a key time for Lampard and, for the first time this season, created a genuine debate about Chelsea’s best No 9 — particularly in light of the fact that Tammy Abraham’s star has not shone quite so brightly since the turn of the year.

Abraham’s dip in production cannot easily be separated from the freak ankle injury he sustained colliding with an advertising hoarding during the Arsenal draw, however. He remains Chelsea’s top scorer with 13 goals in the Premier League and his expected goals per 90 minutes (xG90) rating of 0.61 is still significantly better than that of Giroud (0.45).

Giroud’s best attribute is his ability to make those around him better with smart hold and link-up play, so it is no surprise that his expected assists per 90 (xA90) of 0.20 is better than Abraham’s 0.13. But goals are the main requirement for a striker in this Chelsea team, so Abraham gets the nod. The less said about Michy Batshuayi’s form this season, the better.

On the left of the front three, Christian Pulisic is a no-brainer. The American ranks behind only Abraham in xG90 (0.51) among regular Chelsea starters, providing a much-needed secondary punch to the attack. His ability to move dangerously with and without the ball is unrivalled among Lampard’s wing options, and he is also a perfect fit for a high-intensity pressing style.

The opposite flank presents tougher choices. Hudson-Odoi is a tantalising talent who has shown exciting flashes in tandem with an overlapping James, and he is gradually learning how to incorporate the incisive runs that Pulisic regularly makes into the six-yard box into his own game. But he is also yet to truly blossom in the Premier League, his development slowed by injuries.

Pedro does not merit serious consideration on either flank because, on the rare occasions he has played this season, he has generally looked a shadow of the wide forward who proved so dangerous in Antonio Conte’s best Chelsea team. That leaves Willian, forever trusted by his managers and forever divisive among supporters.

The pure goal and assist numbers have always been underwhelming for Willian, but his other qualities make him a sensible choice to complete this team. His 2.38 key passes per 90 minutes (KP90) mark him out as more creative than any of Chelsea’s other wing options, and his dribble success rate of 65 per cent also marks him out as the most reliable ball carrier.

Out of possession, Willian’s defensive contribution offers some tactical balance. He has the best duel success rate (59.3 per cent) and tackle success rate (61.5 per cent) of Chelsea’s wingers. Hudson-Odoi may be ready to take his spot as soon as next season but for now, the Brazilian remains one of the experienced heads in a team not short on youth.

Full team (4-3-3): Kepa; James, Zouma, Tomori, Azpilicueta; Kante, Kovacic, Loftus-Cheek; Willian, Abraham, Pulisic

What do you think of these selections? Let me know in the comments below — and please be kind!

Kovacic as lone holder is a sackable offense. What is Kovacic strength? Ability to carry ball forward. Is he a great long range passr? Nope. For emergency purpose sure he can play as holdrr, but as besr 11,nope.

[Vesper 30,175]

On 21/03/2020 at 3:04 PM, killer1257 said:

My midfield for next season would be:

Kova-RLC-Billy G

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

[communicate 2,703]

Hopefully I can see lineup of

CHO - Tammy - Puli 

            Mount

I want to see how we play with that very young front line

 

[Vesper 30,175]

The 10 Commandments of football analytics

https://theathletic.com/1692489/2020/03/23/the-10-commandments-of-football-analytics/

Last year, The Athletic’s Ben Baldwin wrote a piece detailing the 10 Commandments of numbers-based analysis of the other football. The one with the funny-shaped ball. The beautiful game lends itself to plenty of analysis using numbers, too but just because the data is there, it doesn’t mean that it’s always used correctly.

This guide will give you a better appreciation of the context required when talking about teams and players, which numbers to focus on and how to better question what you’re seeing.

Here are The 10 Commandments.

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1) Thou shalt not use save percentage to evaluate a goalkeeper’s shot-stopping ability

Example: “Martin Dubravka has been the eighth best shot-stopper in the Premier League this season with a save percentage of 73.9 per cent”

Why it’s misleading: The equation for save percentage is shots saved/total shots faced. Straight away, there’s no accounting for the difference in the type and quality of shots that a goalkeeper faces, which will have a large impact on his ability to make a save, and therefore, his save percentage.

Goalkeeper X facing 10 shots from inside the six-yard box is going to have a tougher time making saves compared to Goalkeeper Y, who’s facing all of his ten shots from 30 yards out or more.

Expected Goals and its cousin, Expected Goals on Target, tell us that shots from further away are less likely to result in a goal and shots that are either right at the keeper or down the middle are more likely to be saved. Anyone reading who has watched enough football will, of course, tell you the same thing.

By equally weighting each shot to calculate save percentage, we are doing a disservice to Goalkeeper X and making Goalkeeper Y look better than they actually might be.

What to use instead: Comparing the quality of on-target shots by using Expected Goals on Target (or Post-Shot Expected Goals) to the number of goals conceded, which I’ve written about previously here, adds much needed context to a goalkeeper’s numbers.

Goals Prevented tells us how many goals a goalkeeper saved given the quality of shots he’s faced, compared to the average goalkeeper. Through doing this, Martin Dubravka looks far better than his save percentage says he is, and Vicente Guaita looks like a world-beater:

2) Thou shalt not use distance or sprint stats to indicate effort

Example: “Mesut Ozil has run more than any other player for Arsenal today, clocking up 11.2km”

Why it’s misleading: Premier League clubs have had access to tracking data since 2013-14 and, as part of that deal, the media get access to derived outputs too. Up to this point, all we’ve really seen is distance and speed statistics.

The reality is, these numbers are some of the most contextless around, yet they’re used frequently when analysing teams and players. The reasons for not using are plentiful.

Firstly, there’s no correlation between the distance you run and your likelihood of winning a game. The amount of distance covered in a finite amount of time is only useful in a time trial, which football is not. From last year’s UEFA Technical Report on the Champions League, Shakhtar Donetsk ran the furthest on average of all 32 teams in the competition, yet finished third in their group and crashed out of the Europa League in the round of 32. Manchester United ran the second-least on average, yet were still able to reach the quarter-finals. Distance doesn’t really tell us much.

Secondly, distance and sprints are going to be stylistic, as in, the numbers that players rack up will be linked to what’s asked of them, the system they play in, how the opposition sets up, game state, and various other factors. Without controlling for — or at least mentioning — these other factors, these numbers don’t give us much insight.

Finally, there’s also some evidence to suggest that running less actually can be beneficial — just ask Lionel Messi. Most players have the fitness levels to last a full game but the manipulation of space is what matters. Similarly, there have been plenty of quick players to have played the sport but the very best know when to use their pace. Very rarely do players need to beat another in a foot race but it’s quick bursts of speed to get past someone or latch on to the end of a loose ball that are key.

There’s value in this data but it’s on the athlete-management side and ensuring that the players are in the right condition to be playing. Football is a game of space and time, and the current tools to measure these are too blunt to be interesting right now.

What to use instead: There’s not really a great substitute here. Either these numbers need to be framed properly before using or we’re probably better off without them.

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3) Thou shalt not use possession as an indicator of quality

Example: “Tottenham had 79.8 per cent possession in their 0-1 defeat to Newcastle; the second-highest figure for a losing side in the Premier League since 2003-04.”

Why it’s misleading: As Marti Perarnau puts it in Pep Confidential (my pick for The Athletic’s list of favourite football books) “possession is only a means to an end. It’s a tool, not an objective or an end goal.” Leicester City won the league averaging 42.6 per cent of possession in 2015-16. Manchester City won the league last season averaging 67.7 per cent of the ball. In essence, it doesn’t matter how much you have — it’s what you do with it.

Winning the possession battle doesn’t really tell us that much beyond how teams stylistically set up to play and in-game, can be entirely dictated by the scoreline. Take Atletico Madrid’s 1-0 victory recently against Liverpool in the Champions League. After a fourth-minute goal, Atleti set up shop, having just 27 per cent of possession. That figure may have looked entirely different had Atleti not scored early on.

What to use instead: Possession is still a useful nugget of information to understand which side had more of the ball — but just don’t use it to win any arguments that one team is better than another. Expected Goals is a far better indicator of the quality of a team, so if you want to argue about quality, see how good your team is at creating and preventing goalscoring chances.

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4) Thou shalt not judge a player’s defensive ability on the number of tackles and interceptions they make

Example: “Ricardo Pereira is the best defender in the Premier League, making 119 tackles this season”

Why it’s misleading: Not all the defending that a player does is tangible and the measurable output that can be counted is often biased by team style. Logically, if a team has less possession, they have more opportunities to defend, and vice versa.

For that reason, tackle and interception numbers are better indicators of defensive style (i.e. is the player passive or active) and not necessarily the defensive quality of a player. Virgil van Dijk attempts just 0.76 tackles per 90 minutes, yet no one would make the case that that makes him a poor defender.

In addition, because these defensive numbers are at the mercy of the style of team that a player plays in (mainly the frequency of time they are out of possession and therefore are called into action), it’s hard to compare one player to another.

What to use instead: To combat this, we can adjust defensive statistics for the number of times that they make these actions for every 1,000 touches that an opponent makes when on the field of play — an interpretable method of getting all players on a level playing field. Jordan Henderson’s 2.6 tackles per 90 is 15th best in the league but, when adjusting for possession, he jumps to 4.6 per 1,000 opponent touches, the fifth most defensively-active midfielder in the league.

Possession-adjusted defensive numbers give a more rounded view of defensive activity but these still only show style and not overall quality.

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5) Thou shalt not use tackle win-rate to judge a player’s tackling ability

Why it’s misleading: I’m going to let you into a secret: tackles lost and tackles won are practically the same thing and ignore two other key outcomes when trying to make a tackle.

Tackles are usually split into two categories — those that are won and those that are lost. Winning a tackle consists of a player winning back possession when challenging for the ball, while losing a tackle sees a challenge take place but the ball isn’t won back. Losing a tackle could be due to the ball being poked out for a throw-in for the opposition, the ball knocked loose for the opposition to recover, or some other reason.

Tackle win-rate is currently defined as tackles won/(tackles won + tackles lost). What this currently tells us is the proportion of tackles that a player makes where his team wins the ball back.

What’s the problem? Well, this currently ignores times when a player attempts a tackle and gets bounced off the player currently in possession, or when attempting a tackle, commits a foul. Of full-backs in the Premier League with the highest tackle win-rate, Martin Kelly is the best with 80 per cent of tackles won. The eye test tells us Aaron Wan-Bissaka should be amongst the top players, yet he’s only 11th. What gives?

What to use instead: True tackle win-rate can help avoid this error by incorporating these two missing categories, with the equation of total tackles/(total tackles+challenges lost+fouls when attempting a tackle). Through this metric, Wan-Bissaka is top with a 78.9 per cent true tackle win rate, and Martin Kelly is down in 29th — much better.

6) Thou shalt not use goals minus expected goals as an indication of finishing ability in small samples

Example: “Roberto Firmino has only scored eight goals from 12.7 xG, therefore he’s a poor finisher.”

Why it’s misleading: When it comes to understanding goalscoring ability, there are two crucial elements that need to be considered and judged in isolation. The first is a striker’s ability to generate chances for himself. Goals are a striker’s main currency and to score goals, strikers need to take shots. To measure the quality of these shots, we use expected goals. If a player consistently gets into good goalscoring positions, over time, goals will come.

It’s one thing taking shots, it’s another thing to finish them. In small samples — such as a whole season — a player’s goals and xG may not match up. Take Roberto Firmino. This season, he’s scored fewer than you’d expect given the chances he has but it is his best in terms of getting into great goalscoring positions.

Firmino’s three prior seasons at Liverpool have seen him score above, below and on expectation. This isn’t enough data to give any concrete conclusions on his finishing ability.

What to use instead: Comparing expected goals (the chances players have) with expected goals on target (what they do with those chances) is one method of considering finishing quality in a very basic way. Even over larger samples, use with caution, and consider at least several hundred shots.

There’s a lot of debate in football analytics circles of whether finishing is a repeatable skill, though, so until there’s a proper answer, go ahead and rely on expected goals’ indication that, over time, most players score in line with their xG.

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7) Thou shalt not judge a team’s performance with or without a given player

Example: “Arsenal’s win percentage this season without Mesut Ozil is higher without him (40 per cent) compared to with him (28 per cent)”

Why it’s misleading: With or without you (or WOWY, as it’s known in sports analytics circles) stats are intended to isolate the impact of a single player in a team to see how results change with that player involved compared to when they’re missing.

These stats can work in sports with smaller segments to analyse such as basketball, which has more line-up changes and is far higher-scoring. In football, however, there are just way too many moving parts for this to be a good way of analysing if a player’s any good or not. There’s too much out of Ozil’s control that he gets penalised for in both situations.

Here’s just a sample of things that ideally should be taken into account but aren’t with WOWY: What was the quality of the opposition? What was the quality of the other players playing alongside Ozil? Was there a red card? Was Ozil subbed on?

Equally, you have the Burnley problem. Ben Mee and James Tarkowski have both played every minute of Premier League football this season. Which is better? We’ll never know.

What to use instead: It’s better to analyse players within the context of their position and focus on just what they can control. For Ozil and other creative midfielders, that’s chance creation, for strikers, it’s goalscoring and so on. Leave WOWY stats to sports played by big lads indoors.

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8) Thou shalt not judge a player’s pass ability on his passing accuracy

Example: “Phil Bardsley is the worst full-back at passing in the Premier League, completing just 63.6 per cent of his passes”

Why it’s misleading: The degree to which a player’s passing is accurate or not depends a lot on what they’re being asked to do, and the choices they make when on the ball. Some teams, such as Manchester City, play the ball very short and in certain areas of the field, under little pressure. Due to this, they’ll have a high pass-completion rate. Others, like Burnley, look to hit the channels and user longer passes instead of shorter ones — passes that are, on average, less likely to be completed.

The passes may be, by the definition of the data, inaccurate, but that doesn’t tell the whole picture. Consider the example below, from a recent Leeds United game:

https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2020/03/22085743/costa_pass_example.mp4?_=1

Here, Helder Costa’s pass goes down as a failed pass into the area but it’s largely due to the excellent recovery run of the Hull City defender. Here, we should care about possession retention and the progression that Costa has enabled. There are various other times when this situation takes place — possession being retained but the pass incomplete — which players get unfairly judged on.

What to use instead: I’ll write more on other options on this in future, as currently I don’t think that there are many metrics that properly cater to this issue. Expected Pass completion rates may give a more rounded view of why a player’s pass completion rates are low but that data is relatively sparse in the public domain.

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9) Thou shalt not judge players if they fail a lot

Example: “Trent Alexander-Arnold has made more unsuccessful passes than any other outfielder in the Premier League”

Why it’s misleading: The Athletic’s Michael Cox wrote at length back in January on what being a “failure” in the Premier League means, so I won’t go into too much depth here. The Golden Boot winner every season will fail to score more times than they succeed in doing so. But if we want to find out the most clinical finisher, we’d look at conversion rate and therefore need goals.

What to use instead: In most cases, if the focus is on how many times a player has failed, it’s worth turning that into a percentage to add more context. Have they failed a lot, or is it that they’re tried something far more than other players?

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10) Thou shalt not compare players with differing numbers of minutes played

Example: “Trent Alexander-Arnold and James Maddison are the joint second-best chance-creators in the league, with 75 each”

Why it’s misleading: Players who play more minutes have more chances to do things on the field that are counted. By not putting all players on a level playing field in terms of minutes played, it means that those who have played less will nearly always look worse.

I’m probably building some sort of a reputation for always fighting Emi Buendia’s corner but by adjusting for minutes played, Buendia is actually the second-best chance-creator in the league on a per 90 basis (3.3 per 90).

What to use instead: By adjusting stats per 90 minutes played (that is, dividing the stat by minutes played/90), players who have played differing numbers of minutes can have their numbers compared, and more fair comparisons can be made.

[Vesper 30,175]

Unwritten: What is speed in football and how do you measure it?

https://theathletic.com/1703178/2020/03/27/speed-football-premier-league-fast-fastest-player/

Speed is an aspect of football that is so key, and yet so infrequently written about. There are various ways that teams can use speed to their advantage: attacking upfield fast, getting shots away quickly after turning the ball over, or moving the ball quickly to pull the opposition out of position.

Rapid movements, fleet feet and quick thinking: the Premier League has always been a league where the use of speed (or lack thereof, in some cases) has lead to greatness — Leicester City’s title-winning season, for example, was built on speed. It is something that’s deemed so important, yet from a statistical point of view it’s rarely mentioned.

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The first kind of speed is the one we all know, and likely had to repeat again and again in physics lessons in school: ”speed equals distance over time”.

To start measuring how fast a side attacks, let’s first determine what a slow attack looks like. Take Manchester City’s 44-pass goal against Manchester United back in November 2018.

This move took City one minute and 55 seconds from start to finish. They moved the ball a total distance of 699 metres, for a territorial gain of just 42 metres (how far the ball was actually moved up the field).

Taking the territorial gain and the total duration of the passing sequence, the direct speed (how fast the ball moved upfield) can be calculated. This City goal, while aesthetically pleasing, is on the super slow side, clocking up just 0.38 m/s, and is one of the slowest goals in recent memory.

If City’s goal that day is the tortoise, the hare is Leicester’s fourth goal against Aston Villa in the 4-1 drubbing back in December:

With Ricardo Pereira (21) picking up the loose ball and sending it long, Dennis Praet picks up the loose header from Villa’s Douglas Luiz and sends Jamie Vardy on his way. This move comprised of just two passes (and only one of them is complete, violating one of the commandments) and took 11.5 seconds from start to finish. Moving 86.7m upfield, this goal was reminiscent of Leicester teams of yesteryear, with a direct speed of 7.5 m/s.

Calculating these metrics over every eligible shot in the Premier League in the past five seasons, we can see which is the fastest attack in terms of raw distance over time. The criteria used here is all shots that have come from open play, that aren’t rebounds, and don’t come from moves that only cover a tiny amount of ground (e.g. a goalkeeper getting tackled and the ball put into an empty net).

Leicester’s title-winning team are the fastest, with moves averaging 3.9 m/s. They also dominate the top five with the 2016-17 and 2017-18 teams included.

Where Leicester differ, though, is the absence of many passes in their moves leading to shots. Their passes per sequence is the lowest by a long way compared to the other teams (the lowest in the dataset, in fact) and shows how different Claudio Ranieri’s team was when it came to turning defence into attack. Essentially, they moved the ball  by carrying it forward, with Vardy scoring more goals following a carry of five metres or more than any other player in the Premier League that season.

Sean Dyche’s Burnley in 2018-19 sit third in the table by this measure, with their way of attacking quickly being slightly different to that of Leicester. While Leicester’s quickness was born out of long passing and ball carrying, Burnley progressed their attacks through even longer passes and winning possession from second balls.

The inclusion of Steve Bruce’s Newcastle United isn’t overly surprising, given the team is set up to absorb pressure and attack from deep, yet their attacking approach is different again. Objectively, they are the most passive pressing team in the Premier League this season, allowing the opposition 19 passes before sticking a foot in and attempting to win it back. They also start their attacking moves from the second deepest position in the league, after Arsenal.

With Miguel Almiron and Allan Saint-Maximin as the two key attacking outlets in transition, Newcastle look to run the ball upfield, with Almiron and Saint-Maximin as the 3rd and 8th most willing runners in terms of distance-per-carry:

Moving the ball upfield with speed is one way that a team can be quick, but another is turning defence into attack quickly and taking shots soon after turning the ball over. Taking advantage of these transitional moments is key to creating shooting opportunities, and speed of thought and speed of reactions are the tools required.

Defining these moments when teams win the ball back and shoot quickly is relatively straightforward — any shot that comes from the ball being recovered in open play and taken within 15 seconds of the sequence starting is counted. Here’s the fastest teams in the last five seasons in terms of turning defence into attack quickly:

Naturally, this lists consists of clubs that press high up the field, or at least used to. Jurgen Klopp’s early seasons at Liverpool were when Liverpool’s press was at its most intense, which is a similar story to Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs.

Manchester United buck the trend slightly. This season, they don’t exactly fit the bill in terms of a high-pressing side, but in Daniel James, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, they have the youngest (and arguably fastest) collection of attacking talent this season. Being able to turn the ball over and attack at speed is another way of getting included here, similar to Leicester’s title-winners from 2015-16.

Chelsea’s inclusion in 2016 is intriguing, given it’s Antonio Conte first year managing the team, and also the first year of N’Golo Kante in midfield. Eden Hazard had his joint-best year in terms of scoring, as did Diego Costa, as Chelsea cruised to the title.

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Lastly, teams can use speed to their advantage through crisp ball movement — letting the ball do the work — to carve open opportunities to score. There’s the caveat that this measure is far from perfect — with the absence of a timestamp of when the ball is received in the data, these statistics don’t take into account the time that a player is on the ball and the time that the ball is on the move (i.e. has been passed). Nonetheless, the table of fast-tempo sides below makes for interesting debate. To also cater for messier moves in the data (and on the field) only those which last 15 seconds or more are included.

To approximate tempo here, we take the duration of an attacking sequence and divide it by the number of passes that take place within it. A quicker tempo move is one that has less time between passes. Of two sequences that each last 20 seconds, the one with five passes and a tempo of four seconds per pass is quicker than the other sequence consisting of just two passes and a tempo of ten seconds per pass.

Arsene Wenger’s final year at Arsenal coincided with Arsenal having the fastest team for ball movement, with an average of 2.8 seconds per pass. Although the passing may have been of the U-shaped, painful variety, it was still done at a relatively high tempo.

Pep’s City also feature three times in here, which passes the eye test given how they look to pull opponent’s from left to right, waiting for the right moment to play through the lines and carve open a scoring chance. Notably, the tempo at City under Pep compared to Pellegrini has changed a fair amount, with the latter’s side averaging 3.2 seconds per-pass, the highest of any City side in the past five seasons.

These measures, however, are partly stylistic instead of being indicative of great attacking sides. While Fulham of 2018-19 had a relatively high tempo, and an attack good enough for mid-table last year, the defence was ultimately too flimsy to keep them afloat.

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Speed of movement, reactions, and of the ball itself are just three ways that the fastest teams in the Premier League can be labelled as “fast”. It’s not always a winning strategy to be quick. Sides that play at speed tend to either burn out (Spurs), get tactically worked out by opponents (Ranieri) or lose the pieces that made the speed so successful in the first place (Conte’s Chelsea) — but it’s certainly fun to watch.

[Vesper 30,175]

Who is Chelsea’s most important player?

https://theathletic.com/1728977/2020/04/09/chelsea-kante-abraham-mount-azpilicueta/

While Eden Hazard was around, any debate about who was Chelsea’s best player seemed to be a waste of time. During his seven-year tenure, most supporters regarded him as the club’s greatest asset, the one the team couldn’t do without.

Naturally there were other candidates, but the Belgian’s artistry and skill won universal acclaim — the club’s fans voted him Chelsea’s Player of the Year a record four times. His popularity also extended outside the confines of Stamford Bridge.

However, ask the same question about who stands out among the current group now and the situation isn’t as clear cut.

By the time football resumes again, coach Frank Lampard will surely have a fully fit squad to choose from for the first time. All the injuries and ailments which have hindered some of his men throughout the campaign before the break last month, should be fully healed.

If this is the case, which individual shines above all the rest, which is the one fans dread not being on the teamsheet? The assumption following Hazard’s departure to Real Madrid last summer was that N’Golo Kante would inherit the throne.

Kante was probably Hazard’s main competition over the previous three seasons. After all, the France international beat his team-mate to the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 2017.

The fact Chelsea made Kante their highest paid player on £290,000 a week in November 2018 is a strong indication of the high esteem the hierarchy hold him in.

Kante is clearly one of the best players in the game at what he does, but 2019-20 has not been kind. The knock-on effects of a knee injury, which was first sustained ahead of the Europa League Final last May, has had a seriously negative impact. The former Leicester midfielder has started less than half of Chelsea’s games (20 out of 42) and his influence in many of those was not what one has grown accustomed to.

Play as he did in the first two meetings with Liverpool in the UEFA Super Cup and Premier League and Kante will always be the first name on the teamsheet. For example, in the league encounter, he not only scored a stunning individual goal but led the way by gaining possession for Chelsea 11 times and completed 81.6 per cent of his passes.

Yet some TV pundits still argue that, like Maurizio Sarri before him, Lampard has not been getting the best out of Kante by often playing him to the right of Jorginho in a three-man midfield rather than centrally, in front of the back four. Judging by this season’s form alone, it would be hard to make a case for the 29-year-old to be Chelsea’s MVP. But the past means he is undoubtedly going to still factor heavily in the conversation and rightly so.

So who else comes into contention? A current front runner in the poll for Chelsea’s most influential footballer this season is Mateo Kovacic, who has performed at a much higher level than his first year at the club.

As a profile piece highlighted earlier this week, the Croatian’s individual’s statistics are on the rise. For example, after attempting an average of 3.2 attempted dribbles per 90 minutes last season at a success rate of 68 per cent, he currently averages 4.7 attempted dribbles per 90 minutes in the Premier League this season with a 79.3 per cent success rate. Conversely, for a man who has played 36 times, a return of just two goals and three assists is a little underwhelming and has to feature in any case for the prosecution.

If Lampard’s selection policy is regarded as a key factor, then Mason Mount instantly becomes a front-runner because no-one has played more in a Chelsea shirt. Despite being his first season as a senior Chelsea player, Mount is the only one to have featured in all 29 of Chelsea’s Premier League games. His versatility has been a major asset for Lampard too as he’s been employed as a central midfielder, out wide, as a No 10 and pushed up close behind the striker.

He is also Chelsea’s second-highest scorer in the top division with six goals and yet the level of criticism aimed in his direction on social media suggests Mount’s popularity is by no means universal.

The same could be said for another academy graduate in Tammy Abraham. The striker leads the way with 15 goals in all competitions, but only two of those were added in the last 11 appearances. Still, one wonders, where would Chelsea be in the league table had Abraham not led the line with such aplomb during the first four months? His displays only began to dip once fatigue from playing on a regular basis and various fitness issues began to take its toll.

Lampard’s consistent selection of Willian means the Brazilian has to be a contender — his display in the 2-0 win at Tottenham in December was perhaps the best by any individual in a blue shirt. But again, his list of admirers appear to be matched by detractors. The same could be said for Jorginho.

After a slow start, captain Cesar Azpilicueta raised his level back to the normal standard. The ability to play at right-back, left-back and in a three-man backline makes him crucial to the cause. And yet, Chelsea’s disappointing record of keeping just nine clean sheets across all competitions has to be factored against him, even though he is obviously not solely to blame.

There is of course a possibility some will regard those who have played far less due to various ailments as Chelsea’s key man. What of Christian Pulisic, scorer of six goals in 23 appearances? The USA international posed a real threat when fully fit. Callum Hudson-Odoi was just starting to show glimpses of his best form following a serious achilles injury when he picked up a hamstring strain two months ago. And who can forget Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who has not kicked a ball for the first team since last May due to an achilles problem of his own?

It is perhaps a reflection of Chelsea’s standing in the game right now — they trail Liverpool in the Premier League by 34 points and were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Bayern Munich in the first leg of their last 16 Champions League tie — that there are negatives and pluses by everyone’s name.

Past achievements dictates my choice of Kante still being No 1, but only just. Who’s yours?

 

 

absolutely disagree

for me it is Kovacic, we often so struggle when he does not play (especially before Gilmour blew up in the past few games) and when Kante plays we struggle usually, minus a few decent games from him

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Vesper 30,175]

Is Frank Lampard Chelsea’s greatest signing?

https://theathletic.com/1782765/2020/05/01/chelsea-greatest-signing-lampard-drogba-hazard/

The task set for me seemed simple: write about the best signing Chelsea have made in the last 20 years. Instantly, Frank Lampard’s name popped into my head. “This won’t take long,” I thought to myself.

For how could anyone not vote for Chelsea’s all-time leading scorer with a remarkable 211 goals, bought for a bargain £11 million from West Ham United in 2001? But within the space of a few minutes, one alternative candidate after another had rolled into my head. After all, Frank isn’t the only one who has been super in a blue shirt.

One of his main rivals for the honour is Didier Drogba, who has just been subject of a read by The Athletic detailing his spectacular exploits. It ran for over 4,000 words but there was enough material to write a book.

The piece provides a strong case. “That” header and penalty against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in May 2012, would be enough to include him on the list. It certainly repaid the £24 million transfer fee agreed with Marseille eight years earlier in spades.

It should also be pointed out that the last time Chelsea asked their fans to vote on who their greatest-ever player was, via the club’s official magazine, it was Drogba who topped the charts, with Lampard runner-up.

“This makes me honoured and proud because so many big players have been at the club before me — and at the same time as me,” he said in 2012. “It is unbelievable. All of these players have done such good things for the club and, when I came here, I could see how much people loved them. To be voted alongside these big names is an ­absolute privilege for me.”

So a simple case of Drogba v Lampard round two, then? No. That wouldn’t be doing justice to several other men who have entertained and helped bring success in equal measure.

For instance, that last poll was staged just a few months into the Eden Hazard era. Drogba’s heroics to win the Champions League in Munich also secured Chelsea’s place in the following season’s competition. It was a deciding factor in them beating a host of top clubs to the Belgian’s signature and he arrived from Lille for £32 million.

Over the next seven seasons, Chelsea supporters were the lucky ones as Hazard dribbled this way and that on a regular basis. Crucially, there was end product, too — not just the 110 goals and 92 assists but, like the two men already mentioned, he helped win silverware.

There were six major trophies in all. His contribution to the title wins in 2015 and 2017 was vital. But it is the memories of him slaloming past beleaguered Arsenal and West Ham United defenders to score remarkable individual goals that make him such a hard man to ignore.

It could be argued that on skill and just pure enjoyment alone, he should take the crown. Nobody has created a greater buzz of anticipation and excitement among the crowd than Hazard when he had the ball at his feet.

But others may look to other criteria.

For example, Petr Cech simply can’t be overlooked. He is second (13) only to John Terry (15) in terms of major honours won by a player at Stamford Bridge. Bought from French club Rennes for a bargain £7 million, he was the club’s first-choice keeper for 10 of his 11 years there and served as great back-up to Thibaut Courtois during his final campaign in 2014-15. He kept a club-record 227+1 clean sheets (Chelsea officially say one is shared, after he came on as a substitute) and no foreigner has played more than his 494 games for them.

The Czech international was also one of the factors in Chelsea conceding a Premier League-low 15 goals in the 2004-05 season — a record which will be extremely hard for any side to beat. And without Cech’s stops from Ivica Olic and Bastian Schweinsteiger in the Champions League final shootout, Drogba wouldn’t have had the opportunity to steal the headlines against Bayern Munich in the first place.

Others whose main task was primarily to keep opponents at bay deserve recognition too. The pursuit of Ashley Cole perhaps provided one of the club’s biggest stories — the tapping-up scandal when he met manager Jose Mourinho and chief executive Peter Kenyon without his then-club Arsenal’s knowledge at the Royal Park Hotel in January 2005.

It took another 19 months for Chelsea to get their man in what is an oft-mooted method in newspaper transfer gossip columns but rarely ever happens: a player-plus-cash transaction. Arsenal accepted £5 million plus William Gallas, a fine defender himself, for Cole.

The England international continued to make the news for a variety of reasons at Chelsea — yet he was worth the grief. The team has surely never had a finer left-back.

Claude Makelele was so good at his job in front of the back four that the role was named after him. His arrival from Real Madrid for £16.8 million was probably the biggest statement Roman Abramovich made in the summer of 2003 when he took ownership of the club. The former France international’s presence until 2009 gave players such as Lampard the freedom to express themselves.

N’Golo Kante has earned comparisons with Makelele since joining from Leicester City for £32 million in 2016, although he plays further forward and sprints from one half to another. He was named the PFA’s Player of the Year and the FWA’s Footballer of the Year for his performances during Chelsea’s last Premier League title win in 2017 and remains a key figure to this day.

Gary Cahill was a bargain £7 million acquisition from then-second bottom Bolton Wanderers in January 2012, given he completed the major honours set of Champions League, Europa League, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup. He went on to captain the club, too.

The impact made by Cesc Fabregas (£30 million from Barcelona) and Diego Costa (£32 million from Atletico Madrid) following their arrivals in 2015 shouldn’t be underestimated, either. Joe Cole is still fondly remembered for his contribution between 2003-10, while despite the odd calamity, David Luiz was a success over two spells (2011-14, 2016-19).

But my thoughts turn back to Lampard. I was there for his first Chelsea press conference in 2001 as he joked about how, unlike at previous club West Ham, bacon sandwiches were off the menu, as well as when he scored the first of his 211 goals for the club — in front of just 20,812 spectators — against Levski Sofia in the first round of the old UEFA Cup. He has come a long way since then.

I watched him drink a well-earned beer as he talked through winning the Champions League at the Allianz Arena and then, a year later, breaking Bobby Tambling’s goalscoring club record with a double at Aston Villa.

His influence on Chelsea was massive, the highlight of all highlights being the iconic brace at Bolton to clinch their first title win for 50 years. The man himself though would undoubtedly prefer to acknowledge the efforts of all the others on this page.

I’ve made my choice then, but what’s yours? Let the voting commence…

 

[Vesper 30,175]

FRANK LAMPARD GETS IN TOUCH WITH NHS DOCTOR 💙

Frank Lampard video-called an NHS doctor, who has been working in an intensive care unit in a London hospital, treating coronavirus patients. See their conversation here...

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/videos/v/2020/05/06/frank-lampard-gets-in-touch-with-nhs-doctor--31sIIZNV