“Look at him, look at him, look at him. What are you doing Marcos Alonso? What are you doing?”
There are few things more likely to set Gary Neville off on an impassioned rant in the commentary box than a full-back not doing their job properly. Alonso’s sluggish attempt to track Andriy Yarmolenko as the Ukrainian raced through to score the winner for West Ham against Chelsea in July, ranked particularly high on the Neville rage-o-meter.
That barmy night at the London Stadium was Alonso’s Chelsea career in microcosm. The stats would indicate that Alonso had a good game: only Michail Antonio and Christian Pulisic fired more shots on goals than his three, while no player on the pitch created more chances than his four. Yet the eye test told a different story, one where Alonso recklessly abandoned his post time and again.
Frank Lampard supported the Spaniard post-match but the fact that neither he nor Emerson Palmieri were able to lock down the left back slot proved the Chelsea boss was unsure on both of them. It is why Chelsea have spent £50m to sign Ben Chilwell from Leicester City.
Chelsea have been linked with a host of left-sided defenders in recent months from Porto’s Alex Telles to Ajax’s Nicolas Tagliafico to Sevilla’s Europa League hero Sergio Reguilon, but Chilwell was always Lampard’s first-choice in that position. That Marina Granovskaia reached for her chequebook to sign him rather than cheaper options on the continent, is a demonstration of faith in Lampard’s coaching qualities.
Make no mistake, £50m for Chilwell is no chump change. It is £1m more than RB Leipzig received from the Blues for Timo Werner, in fact. Indeed, there are plenty of Leicester supporters who feel that the club has pulled off a masterstroke, judging by the reaction on the completely balanced forum that is Twitter.
Whether £50m is too much for Chilwell is a moot point. It seems the going rate for English full-backs these days. It is what Manchester City paid Spurs for Kyle Walker in 2016 and what Manchester United paid for Aaron Wan-Bissaka last summer. The one thing that Lampard will be concerned about is that Chilwell upgrades his team.
For all of Alonso’s match-winning moments going forward – no defender has scored more Premier League goals than his 16 since the start of 2016-17 – his defensive deficiencies have cost Chelsea just as much. Chilwell is not likely to smash home a free-kick nor thunder a header in at the back post, but he will provide better balance on that flank than Alonso has.
Over the past four seasons, Chilwell ranks inside the top five of Leicester’s squad for tackles won (99), interceptions (117), chances created (102) and dribbles completed (111), statistics which indicate a strong, all-round full-back who is equally capable in defence as he is in attack.
Although Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson have shown the benefits of having full-backs who can chip in with ten plus assists each season, Chelsea have such an embarrassment of riches in attack that scoring goals will not be a problem. It is keeping them out that has been Chelsea’s Achilles heel under Lampard.
In any ordinary season when most top-six clubs were not in periods of transition, Chelsea would not have had a chance of securing Champions League football with a defensive record that was on par with 15th placed Brighton and the worst of all clubs in the top-half of the table.
As thrilling as the arrivals of Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz are, defensive reinforcements were absolutely essential and Chilwell looks set to be followed through the door by Thiago Silva later this week.
According to reports, Chilwell’s arrival will not lead to the demise of Alonso. Of their existing left-backs, Chelsea are more eager to shift Emerson from the wage bill this summer and a reunion with former manager Antonio Conte might be forthcoming.
Should such a scenario play out, Chelsea will have a strong first-choice left-back in Chilwell and a potentially game-changing one in Alonso waiting in the wings.
Such depth in options across the pitch can only help Chelsea as they seek to bridge the gap to Liverpool next season.
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2YCfPSR
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