3. Marc Cucurella

[Vesper 29,021]

7 hours ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

 

the lad is now an idol in Spain

what a strange year 2024 has been all around

[Special Juan 27,439]

Never been a tragic footballer, just simply struggled to adapt here and adjust to a new environment etc

Think this tournament will be a massive confidence shot for him and he will get better with us

[Strike 7,251]

I was surprised Gary Neville had a go at Cucurella last month - the signs have been there for months ever since Poch used him in an inverted role.

[OneMoSalah 8,785]

23 hours ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

 

Now thats how you celebrate winning an international tournament. 
 

Brilliant all tournament for me. Well deserved to be in team of the tournament and looking forward to seeing how he performs coming back. 

Was an article/tiktok on the Athletic mentioning about how he has used a psychologist to help get over confidence issues regarding settling at Chelsea, getting over playing poorly, dealing with criticism & injuries etc.

Euros wins and performances will continue feeding into that confidence and character. Would say Chilwell has massive work to do to get in to start.

 

[ZAPHOD2319 4,519]

I think Chilwell might be done at being a starter. These injuries and playing out of position for Poch may have slowed him physically and mentally, it might be a small amount, but at this level, it is a small amount that is the difference between the starter and the back-up.

[Vesper 29,021]

red is not his colour, lolol

[TheHulk 1,889]

32 minutes ago, Vesper said:

red is not his colour, lolol

I kinda like it with red hair, looks like a pirate.

[Blue Armour 4,312]

42 minutes ago, Vesper said:

red is not his colour, lolol

Going to contrast nicely with a blue kit on, lol

[nyikolajevics 2,596]

10 minutes ago, TheHulk said:

I kinda like it with red hair, looks like a pirate.

More like a sad dog after rain.

[ZAPHOD2319 4,519]

 

[King Kante 1,500]

On 16/07/2024 at 08:54, Special Juan said:

Never been a tragic footballer, just simply struggled to adapt here and adjust to a new environment etc

Think this tournament will be a massive confidence shot for him and he will get better with us

Yeah, I agree with this. I never got the Cucu hate. Sure we overpaid but he wasn't actually so poor you question if he should be a professional footballer like Disaster. 

He simply became a whipping boy because he looks a bit ridiculous. Jackson imo is the next one where people who were absolutely clowning him last season, will say 'yeah, he isn't bad actually'/start rowing back on some of the things they said about him. 

.

[Vesper 29,021]

On 10/08/2024 at 01:24, King Kante said:

Yeah, I agree with this. I never got the Cucu hate. Sure we overpaid but he wasn't actually so poor you question if he should be a professional footballer like Disaster. 

He simply became a whipping boy because he looks a bit ridiculous. Jackson imo is the next one where people who were absolutely clowning him last season, will say 'yeah, he isn't bad actually'/start rowing back on some of the things they said about him. 

.

Mid last season I admitted I was wrong (other than the insane fee) and usually have had only good things to say about him for some time now.

[DH1988 1,305]

Great start to the game, got cooked once Doku swapped sides a few times.

[Vesper 29,021]

Marc Cucurella is perfect for Maresca’s inverted full-back plan – especially in attack

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5793505/2024/09/26/cucurella-inverted-full-back/

By Liam Twomey and Thom Harris
Sep 26, 2024

 

 

In the midst of batting away a barrage of questions about ownership turmoil during his press conference ahead of Chelsea’s trip to Bournemouth earlier this month, head coach Enzo Maresca made one interesting disclosure that flew relatively under the radar.

“We used this international break to try something new for the future that we can probably use,” he said. “We also did some defensive work to find the balance.”

The next day at the Vitality Stadium, Maresca unveiled a bold new tactical attempt to balance Chelsea’s attacking aspirations and defensive duties: Marc Cucurella, named in the starting XI at left-back, spent most of the game in an advanced midfield position, operating in the left half-space or “pocket” as the Italian likes to call it.

Maresca’s promotion season at Leicester City made it clear that Chelsea supporters should expect to see their full-backs inverting into the base of midfield, but this was very different. Cucurella was deployed far in advance of Moises Caicedo and Renato Veiga against Bournemouth, often receiving the ball in the kind of area more typically occupied by a left-sided No 8 or even a No 10.

For much of the first half, which was dominated by Bournemouth, it seemed likely to be written off as a misguided tactical gimmick, but Jadon Sancho’s introduction at the interval transformed Cucurella into a legitimate threat.

Within three minutes of the restart, he received a pass from Nicolas Jackson, moved it on to Sancho, made a quick underlapping run into the penalty area and supplied a low cross that should have resulted in a goal for Noni Madueke.

Despite playing only the second half, Sancho had more touches in the attacking third against Bournemouth than any other Chelsea player (25) according to fbref.com. Cucurella was next on that list with 22 touches. Cucurella also received more progressive passes (six) than any visiting player other than Sancho and both men led the visitors in shot-creating actions (three) along with Levi Colwill, again according to fbref.com.

Overall balance eluded Maresca at the Vitality Stadium, where the data suggested Chelsea were highly fortunate to win: they generated just under 0.8 expected goals, their lowest tally of the season to date, while giving up almost 1.8 to Bournemouth (a figure boosted considerably by Evanilson’s first-half penalty, which Robert Sanchez saved).

It was a different story away at West Ham last weekend as Chelsea generated almost 2.2 expected goals while giving up fewer than 0.9 en route to a comprehensive 3-0 victory. Maresca’s use of Cucurella at London Stadium also shifted closer to what would be expected from an inverted full-back, showing for the ball in deeper central areas.

This makes sense when you consider the surrounding personnel. Veiga dropped to the bench against West Ham with Enzo Fernandez, a far more attack-minded midfielder, returning to the team after missing the Bournemouth game with illness. With the Argentine pushing higher up to function as the left-sided No 8, Cucurella was required to stay deeper alongside Caicedo.

Fulfilling a more defensive brief unsurprisingly meant Cucurella was not as involved in Chelsea’s attacking play, but he was reliable in possession, completing 37 of his 39 attempted passes. He also served as an effective decoy in the sequence that led to Jackson’s second goal.

At the precise moment Colwill picked out a forward pass to the feet of Fernandez, Lucas Paqueta was lured into tracking Cucurella’s movement towards the ball, opening space for Caicedo to move into near the halfway line. Fernandez skipped out Cucurella with a sharp pass across to Caicedo, who hit a first-time pass of his own to spring Jackson through to score.

That goal is every much about terrible West Ham defending as it is about brilliant Chelsea attacking, but it clearly illustrates how Maresca wants to use inverted full-backs to help create numerical superiority in the middle of the pitch, giving his team control of the game and putting opponents into difficulty as they attempt to match up.

Maresca rested Cucurella and Fernandez for the visit of League Two leaders Barrow to Stamford Bridge in the Carabao Cup third round on Tuesday, but dabbled once again in moving a full-back into attacking midfield, with Malo Gusto pushing up from the right in the first half and Ben Chilwell, making his first appearance of the season, tasked with operating in a similar way from the left in the second.

“Malo and Chilwell were playing like attacking midfielders on the ball to just create an overload in some part of the pitch so the guy with the ball has more options to pass, not just one, then he can decide,” Maresca explained in his press conference after Chelsea’s 5-0 win. “The idea is to give them more solutions and then they decide.”

Chilwell was not among the four players listed by Maresca (Gusto, Reece James, Cucurella and Veiga) during Chelsea’s pre-season as being suitable for an inverted full-back role and will likely need to change the Italian’s thinking in training sessions at Cobham if he is to earn regular game time between now and January, when the transfer market re-opens.

Cucurella faces no such challenge, having successfully inverted into central midfield from left-back during Chelsea’s five consecutive Premier League victories to end the 2023-24 season under Mauricio Pochettino. Maresca’s varied use of the Spaniard across the first five league games of this season to meet the needs of his team and the threats posed by the opponent — illustrated by the graphic showing his touch locations below — reflects a high level of trust.

It is also a continuation of a remarkable career revival for Cucurella, who struggled on and off the pitch in a chaotic first two seasons at Chelsea that began with him being identified by Thomas Tuchel as an ideal candidate to operate on the left of his three-man central defence.

Now he is a positional Swiss army knife who figures prominently in Maresca’s grander tactical vision — and in particular his increasingly varied and fascinating use of Chelsea’s full-backs.

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[Fernando 6,485]

@Vesper remember when I used to mention that this could be good for Cucu:  Marc Cucurella, named in the starting XI at left-back, spent most of the game in an advanced midfield position

I guess there was no need to put him as mid but to deploy as inverted full back. Crazy! 

 

 

 

[Vesper 29,021]

Marc Cucurella has become Chelsea’s irritant-in-chief – and may be what Enzo Maresca needs

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5914713/2024/11/12/Chelsea-marc-cucurella-dennis-wise-john-terry/

Every good Chelsea team of the Premier League era has needed an irritant. A nuisance. Someone who gets under the skins of opposition players and fans alike.

Those who have thrived in the role include Dennis Wise, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Diego Costa and Antonio Rudiger. All were great players at their respective positions, which made them a target for abuse from the opposition-supporting sections of the stands anyway, but they also seemed to thrive having been cast as Chelsea’s pantomime villain.

It has taken nearly a couple of years since he joined from Brighton in a transfer which could rise the fee rise to over £60million ($77m), but Marc Cucurella has now assumed the mantle those predecessors left behind — and seems to be absolutely loving it.

To become this kind of player, it helps if you have something that makes you stand out. For example, Wise may have been small in size and portrayed himself as the ‘cheeky chappy’ but was perfectly capable of aiming a painful little dig at an opponent’s body while wearing an innocent smile at the same time.

Terry and Cole, by their mere presence, were enough to create a hostile atmosphere. Their off-field issues ensured they were never going to be the most popular anywhere not called Stamford Bridge. The fact they were both excellent defenders who loved a challenge meant games were never dull when they were involved either.

Costa and Rudiger did not try to hide what they were up to, getting involved in some extraordinary exchanges with opponents. Striker Costa seemed to go out of his way to rile up whoever was marking him. The way he got Gabriel Paulista sent off in a game against Arsenal in 2016 was a masterclass in s***housery.

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Football purists tutted in disgust at such behaviour, but chants of “Diego, Diego” reverberated around Chelsea’s stadium as if he had just scored a goal. Similarly, whenever centre-back Rudiger got involved in some spat or produced an almost cartoon-like tackle to win a 50-50, you would hear cries of “Rudi, Rudi!”

No matter what the game, these players always seemed to take centre stage, to be constantly in the picture. Cucurella is of a similar ilk. His flamboyant haircut, those long, dark curls seen bouncing away every time a TV camera zooms in on him, automatically makes the Spain international stand out from the rest. But for over a year at Chelsea after his arrival, he was not held in great regard by the fans, while opposing supporters saw him more as an example of the new Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium getting a transfer wrong.

Indeed, former Chelsea head coach Graham Potter admitted this weekend that, such were Cucurella’s struggles to win over the fanbase, it did influence his selection decisions on occasion during his time in charge between September 2022 and the following April.

Potter, who had also managed the Spaniard at Brighton in 2021-22, said on Sky Sports: “He had to take some stick at Stamford Bridge; it was quite hostile at times. There was a period of time when if results weren’t going so well… you want to do as much as you can to have the crowd with you, but it was obvious that there was a real dislike for Marc here. It goes into your thinking about whether to put him in.”

Cucurella’s man of the match display against Arsenal on Sunday just emphasised how much that has all become a distant memory.

The 25-year-old was superb as he kept Bukayo Saka relatively subdued. It’s not the first time he has managed to do that in recent months, having also got the better of him when Spain defeated England in the final of Euro 2024 back in July.

But even when he was not winning a duel or making a forward run during the Arsenal game, you could see Cucurella trying to have an impact on proceedings in other, more cynical, ways.

Just some examples of the gamesmanship on display include talking to the referee over what seemed to be every decision, complaining to the assistant referees on the touchline, delaying throw-ins and dropping the ball close (but not close enough) for Arsenal to restart the game quickly from a set piece. Each time something was going on, Cucurella seemed to be there, chirping away.

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The annoyance his behaviour causes is particularly noticeable at away matches, where he soon becomes targeted for booing. Even at Bournemouth, whose fans do not exactly have a reputation for getting too animated, the crowd got rather irate with him during their loss to Chelsea in September.

And how their counterparts at Stamford Bridge appreciate his efforts now.

It has helped that, since returning from an ankle operation in March, Cucurella has started 20 of Chelsea’s 23 Premier League games. The only time he has not featured at all in that time is when he was suspended for the trip to Liverpool last month after picking up five bookings.

 

Cucurella has been a consistent part of Chelsea’s team since returning from injury in March (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Speaking to The Athletic earlier this year, Cucurella said: “It’s been hard to turn the tables. I’ve worked very hard. I’ve suffered a lot for my family too. That’s been the worst thing. I was a bit scared, in the moments I was being criticised, that when going for a walk in the city with my family, someone would insult us. It’s never happened in a bad way but I was a bit wary of that. That’s what made me worry the most.

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“I was working with a psychologist for a while. It helped me a lot to understand my job. Confidence is the most important thing. You miss it when you struggle, but it flows when you thrive. I’ve worked a lot on this, to stabilise those moments.”

His consistency is one of the reasons why Champions League winner Ben Chilwell’s services are no longer required at Chelsea. Unlike 12 months ago, the fans want to see Cucurella’s name on the teamsheet.

He is playing well but is also playing with an edge Wise and company would be proud of.

[Fernando 6,485]

I still would sell him. He has done good but to be elite he should not be here. 

[DH1988 1,305]

26 minutes ago, Fernando said:

I still would sell him. He has done good but to be elite he should not be here. 

It's unprofessional behaviour, I wouldn't go that far to sell him, he's one of our most improved player. I bet it doesn't happen again though.