As Chelsea approach what will be a difficult away day at St. James’ Park this weekend, more players in Mauricio Pochettino’s squad than ever will be fit for the first time since pre-season.
The enigmatic Christopher Nkunku has reached mythical status of late amongst the online fanbase.
Many people, not only just fans but club insiders too, see Nkunku as the man who will finally be able to help Chelsea strike down that white whale it has chased for so long, unlocking and defeating the turgid low block setup that more than half the league deploy when facing the Blues.
Nkunku’s return, potentially even as soon as this weekend, is a big boost for the squad but also represents a unique problem for Chelsea and especially Pochettino, where does he play?
However, when you expand this wider, you realise that Pochettino has a lot of hard decisions to make in how he will set up going forward as players return from injury.
This article intends to have a look at what Pochettino will face with player’s coming off the medical table.
This is assuming Poch sticks with his coveted 4-2-3-1 formation and doesn’t switch to a 4-3-3, or even 3 at the back, which of course at Chelsea is never out of the realms of possibility.
Goalkeeper :
This is the easiest position in the squad to pick at the moment for Poch with Robert Sanchez pulling off some big performances as of late with big saves against versus Spurs and keeping us in the game before the international break commenced against Manchester City.
Sanchez has stepped up in the last few games, and is looking like a solid addition with all things considered, despite the worries around his concentration and passing (we all remember the Arsenal game).
Djordje Petrovic wasn’t even a consideration for the Carabao cup game against Blackburn recently, so it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing him anytime soon.
Centre back ;
The centre halves are becoming deceptively tricky to choose. Currently, Pochettino has opted for Thiago Silva as the left centre back and Axel Disasi as the right centre back.
We have had a glimpse of Benoit Badiashile in the aforementioned Blackburn game where he scored on his return, but we haven’t seen him since.
Badiashile is immensely talented and will certainly run close any of Silva, Disasi or even Colwill for their positions in the squad.
As he gets match fit, we will see the calm, mature and almost effortless presence he brings and eventually, it will be too much to miss out.
There is also the question of Wesley Fofana, who surprised many with a small update hinting he may be back fit soon on social media, perhaps around January time.
Fofana offers incredible physicality and pace on the right-hand side, and on his day (when not in the treatment room) not many attackers in the Premier League can get past him.
All the above highlights an issue ; Silva, Badiashile, Disasi and Fofana will be competing for 2 positions most of the time, that’s not even mentioning Trevoh Chalobah, who has likely at this stage played his last game for Chelsea.
This is good for squad competitiveness, the players driving each other to be better every day, it’s also future proofing, with Thiago Silva not getting any younger either but Pochettino will need a find a balance to include everyone as when they are fit, it will not be easy.
Add to the fact that club sources and the likes of Fabrizio Romano have revealed Chelsea are in the market possibly as soon as January for another centre back, this area of the pitch is sure to provide real tests of man management and headaches to our boss.
Left back :
It’s unlikely that anyone would have predicted the events of Chelsea’s left back situation currently.
Levi Colwill has been able to make the position his own for the most part, locking down some of the best wingers in the league, but there are questions from some quarters over whether such a talent should be playing at full back.
Meanwhile, Marc Cucurella has had an incredible resurgence in form when most believed he was finished as a Chelsea player, making the starting left back choice a difficult and competitive one.
This is the case so much so that the promising Ian Maatsen, who Chelsea fans backed to have a big season after seeing him in pre-season, has barely played and never in his known left back/wing back position.
This is the case even despite Ben Chilwell’s current long-term injury. It appears that Maatsen’s days at Chelsea may be numbered.
This leaves Poch with the choice of Cucurella or Colwill, not as easy a decision as the names may imply, given current form.
However, Colwill appears to have that position locked down for now, but if he ever switches to playing centre back more frequently, he will find himself in a very competitive group.
Perhaps this is the deal Colwill made with Pochettino in order to play enough to go to the Euros at the end of the season, we will never know.
Right back :
An easy decision for this one. Obviously, the captain Reece James is going to play if he is fit. Reece needs to get a bit more consistent and stay fit now that the armband is his.
I want to see the same level of form from James as when he was carrying us on his back. Now that he’s the captain, that’s an expectation and as long as he stays fit, there’s no way he’ll fail.
Malo Gusto has been a brilliant backup this season and while he needs to work on his offensive game, his defensive game as a fullback is solid.
He’s still young and really promising, I predict a bright future for him in this team. James and Gusto as two young fullbacks pushing each other to start is exactly the competition you want to see.
The midfield pivot :
In Poch’s 2-man deep midfield, Enzo and Caicedo are forming a partnership that is slowly starting to click. Whilst both have struggled of late (Caicedo with city especially) there is evidence that things are improving for both players who are immensely talented in their own rights.
Similar to many others in this young squad, more consistency is needed from both of them. Either of them could win games by themselves on a consistent basis if they put it together.
With any luck, the pressure of returning hopeful debutant Romeo Lavia may encourage that. Lavia is supremely talented himself, running Southampton’s midfield at such a young age.
His addition to the squad will be supplementary to the others and provide more of a competitive for the midfield spots.
He’s a great depth option so we don’t have to necessarily play Enzo and Caicedo after every international break, and let’s not downplay him too much as he has the talent to become a regular starter, too.
Ultimately, he can take the strain off them both while pushing them further, that is the third man’s role when you play the least and is a nice introduction for him coming back from injury.
This spot will be far more crowded next season with Santos and Casadei returning and Mauricio Pochettino is also a fan of young Lesley Ugochukwu, so Lavia must make an impact whenever he can.
The number ten :
The number ten role might be the most contested position for Chelsea soon, as all along the front line, many players can play in this role for different purposes.
Connor Gallagher occupies the spot currently and is undroppable, swapping in game off the right with Chelsea’s other current golden boy Cole Palmer, who is also undroppable.
This creates issues for Cristopher Nkunku’s return, who would likely either prefer the number ten role or playing off the left as we saw at points in pre season.
Nkunku is likely to play all across the final third across the attacking positions, but if he does start over Gallagher or Palmer in future, the other will certainly feel hard done by.
This position becomes even harder to decipher when you add Carney Chukweumeka into the mix, who will return from injury over the next few weeks.
The talented English midfielder scored a fantastic goal against West Ham in this exact position, before suffering a nasty injury in the same match.
How do you keep all of these three happy? I suppose, these moments and hard chooses coming up are what ultimately the club pays the manager big bucks for, with his individual decisions judged based upon the results.
Left wing :
Nkunku off the left is an interesting idea, however he is competing with Sterling and Mudryk, who are more out and out wingers, one would think if Nkunku was to take this spot, he would also take up central zones like Cole Palmer does on the right hand side, do you want both “wingers” doing this?
It is a highly contested position with two superstar athletes and it will be interesting to see who would miss out in such a selection and of course there will be rotation, but managing the happiness of 3 players all expecting to start in one position is not an easy feat for Poch.
As of now, Sterling has the position locked down, unless he is pushed to the right, where there are other issues in that position, such as benching or moving Cole Palmer to another spot, likely the number ten, which is already so congested.
Mudryk has also fed energy into the Chelsea attack, with the whole attack suffering when he’s gone off having started games.
Chelsea is truly blessed for talent off the left, and with masses amounts of talent comes different characters, expectations and much more.
Striker :
The striker position is reasonably simple for Chelsea right now with Jackson grabbing 4 goals in his last two starts.
Armando Broja is a capable backup (remember he won us the 4-4 penalty versus city) and Nkunku is also an option for something different up front when he returns.
Taking all this in, the club are still after an “elite” striker and it will be interesting to see who we sign in either January or the summer and what that will mean for Jackson and Broja long term.
Right wing :
The last position I will be talk about is the right wing spot. It is a bit of a mess in a good way.
Cole Palmer starts there and rightly so, swapping with Gallagher, but Nkunku’s introduction threatens both of them in the number ten role and on the right.
If Nkunku plays on the left, Sterling will likely play on the right, which also necessitates one of Gallagher or Palmer dropping to the bench.
This is without Noni Madueke also putting his hat in the ring, with the limited minutes he has received recently.
Nkunku coming back causes headaches in terms of of squad planning. There are ultimately 4 positions available for 9 players (Sterling, Jackson, Broja, Nkunku, Gallagher, Palmer, Chukweumeka, Madueke and Mudryk), with only one game a week, this is a potential nightmare squad harmony wise.
Conclusion and final thoughts :
On one hand, as we play more games and players need rest, this will hopefully work seamlessly to give players the respite they need between games while still having the quality in depth to keep winning games regardless, which keeps your top players fresher for longer.
Having so many attacking options also makes it difficult for opposition managers to prepare.
On the other hand, players are going to be naturally frustrated they aren’t playing, Pochettino will have to use his man management skills in training every day and the side also needs rhythm, how much can you really change, especially if we are playing well?
The strategy is bold and when you consider how they extensively studied Manchester City’s centurions, it does sound eerily similar and may have informed the “stacked” young squad strategy they eventually decided to go with.
Of course, it would be much simpler if we were in Europe, but those times will have to wait, for now.
By Oliver Carpenter – @OlijCarpenter
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