Jorginho

[MoroccanBlue 5,296]

2 hours ago, Tomo said:

I never turned against him and found the whole episode bizzare.

Same 

[Jase 43,479]

Jorginho is one of Chelsea’s few leaders but has created only two goals – he has to do more

https://theathletic.com/1499369/2020/01/01/jorginho-is-one-of-chelseas-few-leaders-but-has-created-only-two-goals-he-has-to-do-more/

Jorginho is 18 months into his Chelsea career and the club are still waiting for him to provide more action to go along with his inspirational words. As Frank Lampard’s side toiled to a 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion, those in attendance saw the positives and negatives of the Italian’s presence in the first team.

There is no one in blue who is more vocal than the midfielder. On more than one occasion his voice could be heard above the noise coming from the stands as he organised and cajoled team-mates.

Chelsea have so few outspoken characters in their ranks that they can ill afford to be without him and yet this was only the second time in his last 10 appearances (all competitions) that he has completed 90 minutes. Indeed, it was just his fifth start in the past 10 Premier League matches.

That suggests the head coach is not entirely happy with Jorginho’s contribution when the ball is at his feet and his display at the Amex on New Year’s Day will not have changed the doubters’ minds.

The sight of Lampard and assistant Jody Morris regularly turning away in frustration, mouthing expletives, was a regular occurrence against Brighton and, while those reactions were triggered by a number of personnel, not just Jorginho, the midfielder’s creative limitations were clear.

The 28-year-old’s passing map shows he failed to complete a single pass into Brighton’s penalty area. Indeed, many of his attempts to move the ball forward in the opposition half didn’t reach the intended target, with the more successful ones going sideways toward the flanks.

When Jorginho attempted to play a direct, straight pass into the opposition half to move Chelsea forward quickly, it usually failed, as the yellow arrows indicating unsuccessful passes show.

It is not the first time this has happened this season.

The lack of creativity has been noticeable particularly in recent home defeats against West Ham United, Bournemouth and Southampton, who all employed well-organised defences playing deep.

He has only two assists in the Premier League to his name, both from this season. A sublime through-ball to Tammy Abraham in the 2-1 victory at Watford provided a glimpse of what he can do, but Chelsea need to see such flair on a more regular basis.

When you consider Cesc Fabregas, the player most akin to Jorginho, created 57 goals during his spell at Stamford Bridge between 2014-19, their supposed playmaker is falling far short of those statistics.

It could be argued the Brazil-born Italy international is employed a lot deeper than the Spaniard, regularly getting the ball off the central defenders. And Fabregas had the likes of experienced forward Diego Costa to aim for, whereas a much younger and raw Abraham is leading the line now, and struggling duo Alvaro Morata and Gonzalo Higuain did it last season. But it still does not excuse so few assists.

There is no doubt his influence in the dressing room has increased this season and Lampard named him as vice-captain to Cesar Azpilicueta for good reason.

It is understood Lampard was impressed with Jorginho’s technical abilities when he took over and has since been impressed with how he has handled being left out of the team recently.

He has not let his disappointment show and carried on giving pep talks to those around him. But Chelsea signed him from Napoli for £57.4 million in July 2018 to be a lot more than a cheerleader.

Jorginho still has more than three years left on his contract but with Chelsea able to sign new players again in the now-open winter window, Lampard is looking at improving the area he used to excel in as a player.

Their midfield trio of Jorginho (five), N’Golo Kante (three) and Mateo Kovacic (2) have just 10 goals between them this season — and that includes four penalties by the former. The balance has also been an issue, with Graeme Souness saying recently that, as a former midfielder, he would have been “licking his lips” at the prospect of facing Jorginho and Kovacic.

Lampard named Kante as one of Chelsea’s three best performers against Brighton, along with defender Antonio Rudiger and goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. Jorginho’s name was not among them and it was noticeable that the visitors’ loss of control coincided with his declining influence as the second half wore on.

Asked by The Athletic if that was a factor in how Chelsea let things slip, Lampard said: “Yes, maybe (it was). That’s when they slightly matched up with us in the second half too. Then it becomes a match-up and a case of, ‘Are you better than us or are we better than you?’ We didn’t do enough at that point.

“But it can’t just be about Jorginho getting on the ball. If that avenue is shut down, there has to be other avenues to play. That can’t be the answer. It has to be the collective in terms of the lowering in quality of our game. It wasn’t just one individual. In general as a team we lost too many balls.”

There is also still a concern about Jorginho defensively, too. One sloppy pass to Brighton’s Neal Maupay would have been punished had the through ball to Aaron Connolly been struck better.

Opponents have now successfully dribbled past him 32 times and he was relieved when referee Stuart Atwell chose not to book him for a ninth time this season when he tripped Steven Alzate seven minutes before the interval.

He has already served a one-game ban for accumulating five yellow cards and can afford just one more before week 32 of the competition in early April to avoid a two-match suspension (for 10 yellows).

With young players Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and Abraham understandably showing signs of fatigue from playing at this high a level for the first time and struggling for consistency, this is where Jorginho is more important than ever.

In October, Lampard said: “His professionalism and career here speaks for itself. Jorginho is a big character and a driver for us, which is very evident to see on the pitch.

“It’s obviously important [him being able to speak English]. We always try here to push that along as soon as players come in because communication is key on and off the pitch. He crosses the borders, if there are any, because it’s easy sometimes to come in and stay within your nationality groups.”

Lampard was also full of praise for the way Jorginho helped Chelsea to turn the game against Arsenal around on Sunday when he was sent on as a first-half substitute, describing him as “the big catalyst” as they came from 1-0 down to win 2-1.

His leadership qualities have been helping behind the scenes, but he also needs to lead by example on the pitch.

[NikkiCFC 7,942]

He plays far too deep to be expected to have more assists. And I remember game in Southampton where he had influence in all four goals without making the final pass. Mount so called AM having two assists (one came after Leno mistake) whole season is far bigger issue. 

[Jase 43,479]

34 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

He plays far too deep to be expected to have more assists. And I remember game in Southampton where he had influence in all four goals without making the final pass. 

The 'plays far too deep' is a bad excuse. Was just checking his average position and he has been operating in and around the center circle, which is hardly 'far too deep'. Maybe we've been spoilt by Fabregas but he didn't have any issues in playing passes short or long from high up the pitch or deeper position. Jorginho is just unreliable in that regard, to put it kindly. 

[Tomo 21,733]

4 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

He plays far too deep to be expected to have more assists. And I remember game in Southampton where he had influence in all four goals without making the final pass. Mount so called AM having two assists (one came after Leno mistake) whole season is far bigger issue. 

Assists are subjective as a whole in my opinion.

You can make the best through ball in football history yet you're still relying on the player on the receiving end to score,while whoever played the one yard backward pass to Charlie Adam at Stamford Bridge that day technically got an assist. You also don't technically get an assist if you dummy it into a strikers path.

The assist stat (unless you do it at a stupid rate like Cesc or KDB) is something for fantasy football really, key passes is a better barometer of someone's creativity.

[Jase 43,479]

50 minutes ago, Tomo said:

The assist stat (unless you do it at a stupid rate like Cesc or KDB) is something for fantasy football really, key passes is a better barometer of someone's creativity.

*stats from Opta*

[NikkiCFC 7,942]

My bro so casual 🤙if he play for United he would be top goalscorer in the league. 

[Jase 43,479]

Also, just noticed that he's already 28 year old...maybe time to sell him (cc @Vesper) 

[Vesper 28,778]

7 hours ago, Jason said:

Also, just noticed that he's already 28 year old...maybe time to sell him (cc @Vesper) 

Why would we sell him? You clearly are trying to utterly misrepresent my views on initial buys, sales, and age of players. Not a good look. Very passive aggressive of you. 

[Jase 43,479]

3 hours ago, Vesper said:

Why would we sell him? You clearly are trying to utterly misrepresent my views on initial buys, sales, and age of players. Not a good look. Very passive aggressive of you. 

What, can't take a joke now?  

[Jase 43,479]

5-yard-pass merchant! 

[SUNZ 155]

The most overrated passer of this generation. The king of the lofted through ball that is under hit and easily cut out.

[MoroccanBlue 5,296]

Had a poor game yesterday. It's obvious his best attributes are leading transitions and retaining possession, however he shouldn't be the one responsible for creating chances from midfield. 

Again, this just goes back in how unbalanced our midfield is. We are lacking that creative spark. Something I don't even think RLC offers. 

James is honestly our most creative players. 

[Fernando 6,454]

It's hard with Jorginho and kante in the middle. They just don't work well. 

Midfield is the problem of all these imbalances we have. 

 

[NikkiCFC 7,942]

52 minutes ago, Fernando said:

It's hard with Jorginho and kante in the middle. They just don't work well. 

Midfield is the problem of all these imbalances we have. 

 

At the moment Jorginho, Kovacic and Barkley is our best midfield. 

[Fernando 6,454]

8 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

At the moment Jorginho, Kovacic and Barkley is our best midfield. 

I think that midfield will get rip apart by Bayern. 

But it should be used against the smaller team that park the bus. 

[NikkiCFC 7,942]

 

[Vesper 28,778]

2 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

 

Verratti has been a beast all year