Champions League: Enzo Fernández, a lighthouse in the tide of Graham Potter

Cwhen a club does an investment like Chelsea’sthe most normal thing is that it does not respond to tactical needs. The 329.5 million euros that the London club has spent in this winter market they are not the result of a specific request from Graham Potter to fill in gaps or enrich his game plan. What this disbursement seeks is, above all, raise the overall talent of the squad on the fast track.

This implies that the British coach has had to fit the pieces that arrive on the flyprioritizing putting on the grass the greatest conjunction of talent available above that each one occupies the ideal place and role in the game structure.

The 121 million euros disbursed by him cause Enzo Fernández to have become the target of all eyes for the disastrous image that Chelsea has left after its pharaonic winter market. However, perhaps there is no signing that aims more to cover specific needs of the squad than that of the Argentine.

The figures don’t affect me at all. It’s part of football, my job is to go out and give my best

Enzo Fernandez, Chelsea player

“The figures do not affect me at all“, told the midfielder in an interview for ‘The Guardian’ at the end of February. “It’s part of football, my job is to go out there and give my best.” Enzo has not yet had a round match as a ‘blue’ footballeralthough this has a lot to do with the poor situation presented by the team.

During his London tour, Enzo has had to be a positional midfielder more than ever before in his brief career. The casualties of Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kanté have made their regular companions Loftus-Cheek, Connor Gallagher o Mason Mount, profiles accustomed to abandoning the pivot to join the attack and that push Fernández to a purer role of organizer.

In Benfica, Florentino Luis acted as a bodyguard so that the Argentine could fly to more advanced positions as the team settled in the rival camp. with Argentinadespite starting as the only theoretical pivot, the coverage and continuous positional exchanges with McAllister y By PaulThey allowed the young talent to get closer to the ‘Messi zone’ and affect the last third of the field with some assiduity to take advantage of his ability to associate in small spaces, great last pass and remarkable punch.

That version beyond the dividing linewho even tended to look out on the balcony of the area, has been tremendously reduced since it landed in England. This is because Chelsea needs someone to order their first passes and clean up the play before it prospers to the next step. The one who occupies the plethora of ‘blues’ midfielders.

In his five meetings with Chelsea In the Premier League, Rodri Hernández is the only midfielder who hits more passes than Enzo per 90 minutes. Which is not a positive fact per se. In fact, Although 45 of the 78 passes that he hits per match arrive in the rival field, these are normally horizontal shipments that do not bother the opponent’s defense. Hence the poor number of 0.67 scoring chances created per game for a midfielder of his ancestry and recent incidence in creating chances.

From where there is no…

Here they come into play the weaknesses of Chelsea’s attacking system. The attack of those from the north bank of the Thames suffers from excessive repetition of profiles. Too many players that step on similar areas and few or none who do not ask for it at the bottom. Only the touches between the lines and drops to the midfield of Joao Felix They seem capable of speeding up the ‘blue’ offense a bit.

The most striking thing is the lack of a striker, a position occupied by Kai Havertz in the absence of Aubameyang in the plans of Graham Potter. The German adds interesting movements between central offices or leaving the area of ​​’9′, but The little danger that it represents facing the goal causes the rival defenses to hardly shake in his presence, resulting in the little space with which he is forced to attack Chelsea.

The result is a leaden pace attack that has only generated two goals since the end of the winter transfer window. Being one of them at the exit of a corner last weekend against Leeds. Precisely, the only goal in play of the month of February came from Enzo’s boots to end up in Joao’s.

All this panorama reduces the possibilities of the Argentine midfielder of regret in the future of the encounters, leaving him as the only differential weapon its excellent long displacement, from which it is managing to stretch and oxygenate its team. In fact, He is the Premier player who completes the most long passes successfully in this stretch (8.31).

Enzo’s Achilles heel

The first leg of the Champions League round of 16 that will be resolved tonight in Stamford Bridge pointed out to Enzo in the photo of the Borussia Dortmund goal. The midfielder was left as the last man in a corner kick in favor that ended up becoming an obvious opportunity for a counterattack for the Germans. In the open field, the electric Adeyemi exposed the defensive deficiencies of the Argentine to make it 1-0. Logical weaknesses given his characteristics as a player and the few times he has faced such extreme situations in his career.

This, which is nothing more than an anecdote, it does hide the great must of the young Argentine talent in his first contact with English football. And it is that, despite lead the Premier in tickets per gameoy not have been dragged down by the physical impact of the competition, Enzo is the player who has been beaten the most times by crash since his arrival (He only wins 46% of his duels). Kovacic’s return should throw him a cape in these fightsin addition to allowing him greater freedom in the offensive field as was seen last Saturday against Leeds.

With everything and with that, practically all the little good moments of Chelsea in this stretch have happened at the hands of a good Enzo. Whether it’s clarifying situations in their own field to get out of the pressure, inventing one of his long shipments to generate from nothing or in the brief moments that the context has allowed it to remain in the last third of the field.

on paper, the ex of River and Benfica is a midfielder prepared to be differential in any position or role related to the creation of play. And while it’s hard to shed light on Chelsea’s moment, Graham Potter has at least found his lighthouse. Even if it’s the last thing I do.