A few players got praise for their performance for Chelsea last night, despite a pretty tepid team effort overall.
Jadon Sancho won the “Player of the Match” award from Sky Sports and got a lot of credit after he came on at half time and added some threat down the left, and Christopher Nkunku was the one won actually won the game when he squeezed in Sancho’s pass Robert Sanchez’s penalty save in the first half also proved key.
But one player who was good for the full 90 minutes was Moises Caicedo, and that’s especially impressive given the context of his game. Caicedo had played both games for Ecuador in the international break, arriving back in the UK just 48 hours before this game after starting against Peru and Brazil in the last week.
But with Enzo Fernandez ill and Romeo Lavia injured, there weren’t too many options for Enzo Maresca, who surely would have given Caicedo 60 minutes at most in an ideal world.
Caicedo vs Bournemouth:
– 53 Passes (87% accuracy)
– 7 Passes into the final third.
– 10 Recoveries
– 2 Interceptions
– 2 Clearance
– 7/9 Ground duels won (78%) pic.twitter.com/Ev2Gozu8nK— Vince™ (@Blue_Footy) September 15, 2024
The stats behind a good showing
Caicedo is at his best when allowed to burst forward a little, but last night he was tasked with protecting the back four more. In a game where manager Enzo Maresca criticised his team for not winning enough duels, Caicedo was an exception. He won 7 of his 9 duels on the ground, making 2 clearances, 2 interceptions and an impressive 10 recovering.
Despite playing deep he also contributed to the attack, playing 7 passes into the final third, including one superb effort with the outside of his foot to set Nicolas Jackson free.
We’re glad Caicedo made it through this game unscathed, and we hope he now enjoys a nice long rest. Hopefully next week we’re able to give him a little more help in the middle of the park, with both Lavia and Fernandez returning to the side.
In order for Cole Palmer to play at the 10 Chelsea’s other two midfielders have got to be absolute workhorses because, as he looks to create, Palmer will often be out of position defensively when the ball turns over. Caicedo is excellent in this role, but he’s not quite N’Golo Kante (who seemed to do the work of TWO midfielders). Caicedo needs a partner if we’re to avoid running him into the ground. Thus far, Enzo just hasn’t shown the positional discipline to fill the role reliably, and that’s why Poch ultimately turned to Gallagher last year to play alongside Caicedo. It would appear that, when healthy, Lavia is the man to form the partnership. Let’s just hope he can get back to full health soon. Caicedo had a great game against Bournemouth, but he was honestly asked to do more than his fair share of putting out fires and can’t be expected to bail us out week in and week out.