The Blues seem to have several options in between, however, the lack of a well-rounded defensive midfielder could sink their season.
On the face of it, Chelsea have made smart signings in this transfer window and look set to do more with the expected addition of Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen likely to move forward in the coming days.
Despite having the third best bout in the Premier League last season with 69 goals scored, as well as being the third team behind Manchester City and Liverpool to create the most big chances, Frank Lampard has added another playmaker in Hakim Ziyech and a prolific scorer in Timo Werner.
Indeed, both moves have their merits. While the raw statistics suggest that the West London side don’t necessarily need to prioritize their attacking options this summer, they sometimes seemed short of ideas in the last third and struggled a little when Tammy Abraham he refused in the second part of 19/20.
Statistics provided by Understat it also shows that the Blues underperformed their expected goals by 7.23, only four teams beat him in the entire division. In short, if Prem’s five-time winners had converted more truly promising opportunities, they would have rivaled Liverpool’s final count of champions.
The other big concern for Lampard was behind him, and left-back Ben Chilwell’s primary goal signings have been completed, as well as Thiago Silva in center who, despite his advanced years, hope he can significantly improve a team that has allowed 54 goals last season.
While these signings are reasonable, one area that appears to be ignored is the defensive midfield, where the Premier League giants don’t have a true midfielder.
Havertz’s potential arrival from Leverkusen, despite being considered a generational talent, only adds to positions that seem already filled, while the club doesn’t have an all-rounder who can play at the base of their midfield.
Therefore, it was surprising that Chelsea did not consider Atletico Madrid’s Thomas Partey as the perfect presenter for a team that currently appears to be attacking heavy. While many observers will hesitate at this suggestion given the presence of much-maligned Jorginho and World Cup winner N’Golo Kante, neither provides what the Blues necessarily require in that role.
The Brazilian-born Italian international, despite his ability to recycle ball possession, lacks the defensive awareness necessary to dominate as a working-class midfielder in front of the defense.
His inability to survive danger is well known and was poorly exposed in a cameo against Crystal Palace, where a last-ditch tackle by Kurt Zouma prevented a goal at Palace, while a feeble challenge to stop Andrew Robertson vs Liverpool at Anfield is it was just shocking. .
Both cases highlighted the weaknesses of the movie director without the ball, situations in which Kante thrives.
However, regardless of the campaign by many experts to have the Frenchman deployed in front of the defense, his limitations in possession remain a weak point. To be fair, he gave decent to good performances in that position after the lockout, with the team’s impressive performance against Manchester City particularly noteworthy.
However, Kante’s best kick came when he teamed up with a deeper midfielder or natural handler. This was the case with Danny Drinkwater at Leicester City in 2015/16 and alongside Nemanja Matic at Chelsea the following season.
There are also doubts that the 29-year-old plays a more measured role in midfield other than his natural tendency to hunt the ball higher than the court. This was evident in the Blues’ 3-2 defeat to West Ham United in July, where the two-time winner of Prem was caught high up on the pitch for the fast break that won the game at the Hammers.
Interestingly, what Jorginho and Kante lack in their skill set, Partey possesses in his repertoire.
Every indication in recent months has pointed to a move to Arsenal but with the North London side still unable to complete the transfer, it was surprising that other clubs have not moved for the Ghana star.
Partey’s awareness and cunning positioning sees him putting out fires before they prove destructive and he’s rarely second-best in a fight, an area of concern for Jorginho since his move in 2018.
The former Napoli player won 45 percent of his league duels last season compared to West Africa’s 64 percent in La Liga. Curiously, Kante also didn’t fare well here, winning only 41% of the total duels in the previous campaign.
An area of importance will be Partey’s strength in aerial duels. He won 71 percent of air battles last season, significantly better than Kante (37 percent) and Jorginho (26 percent), and a statistic that will impress Lampard given his expressed concerns about the team’s weaknesses in such fights.
Despite all that strength in land and air duels, the 27-year-old is not only a destroyer midfielder, but an expert in recycling possession and advancing the ball to the top. The African played the most passes in the last third for Diego Simeone’s side last season and finished third on progressive passes, behind Kieran Trippier and Saul Niguez.
It is quite resistant to printing and cannot be held repeatedly. He was expropriated 15 times in La Liga in 19/20, quite superior to Jorginho (22), Kante (32) and Mateo Kovacic (27).
Furthermore, Partey has surprisingly completed the highest number of dribbles in the Atletico team with 47 attempts out of 56, a success rate of 83.9%. This was 76.6% better than Kovacic, as well as Jorginho and Kante, whose dribble completion rate was 70.8 and 60.9, respectively.
In an effort to find the right balance in midfield last season, Lampard tried different combinations in the middle of the park but most of them did not give stability for an extended period due to shortages of the staff on hand.
The team played their best football with Kovacic and Jorginho paired in midfield, but neither offered Kante protection. The introduction of France’s ball winner saw the team lose some panache in the middle of the park as a midfield host in three proved unsuitable due to the aforementioned strengths and weaknesses of Chelsea midfielders.
Partey offers solutions in that he is equally adept as a lone or paired defensive midfielder, which gives Lampard the ability to be flexible with his selection with someone of the Ghanaian’s profile on the squad.
The Blues have made reasonable transfers so far, but adding a defensive foil to their fragile back line has not yet been considered. With Partey, the London giants could instantly resolve midfield problems that could threaten their drive to bridge the gap over Liverpool and Man City … and ultimately challenge the title again.
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