Analysing Demba Ba’s debut goals

Chelsea cruised into the next round of the greatest cup competition in the world, the FA Cup, as defending champions. A 5-1 thumping of Southampton was highlighted by the performance of debutant Demba Ba, who grabbed two goals.

Here’s his first goal in the Chelsea jersey.

The build-up was smart and to the point. Here, Hazard has the ball at his feet at the moment with Ba lingering around the penalty box. Ramires has acres of space to run into and in this game, he was the attacking pivot player. Luiz on the other hand, gets into the middle of the pitch to provide cover for the defenders as Mikel does. Moses needs to wait as Hazard needs to make the decision of tearing down the left flank or cutting in. According to that, Moses and Mata would do the exact opposite. Cole on the other hand, needs to go back and cover the left flank in the defensive third.

First to notice is Moses. He made the right decision and drifted a bit to the middle. This helped him act as a pivot player and also have the chance of drifting right and covering the right flank if Hazard changes his mind. So in this specific frame, Luiz and Moses are pivot players, while Mata gets the No.10 role, Ramires gets the wide role on the right and Hazard gets the left.

Ramires put himself in the perfect position to cover the right flank. Ba might be offside, but he seems to have a plan. The dotted lines show the trajectory of the pass Hazard sends to Mata.

Take your time as you look at the frame above. First off, Moses makes it obvious that he is drifting into the centre as Hazard retreats back. Ramires moves into the centre but at the same time, keeps the option of drifting to the right open. Ba keeps himself well offside as Mata’s movement is shown by the dotted lines.

Mata is smart enough to know that Ba has done that on purpose, as he has full trust in the Spaniard’s ability to get past the defender. The circle marked Torres is the position where Fernando would have put himself if he was playing. The poacher’s instinct is ever-present in Ba, whereas it has just disappeared for Torres.

Here’s the second goal -

Moses has the ball at his feet and is looking to give it to Ramires who has made the run inside. Mata has the option to run in the middle whereas Ba has the option of drifting left but won’t do it. Torres on the other hand, would have done it. Hazard can cut inside as well.

Moses gives the ball to Ramires. Cole needs to get back and defend. Ba and Mata can get inside the box, while Hazard asks for a pass and gets it. The black arrow shows his intended movement which resulted in a pass from the Brazilian.

Moses takes quite some time to get up and should drift down the left flank. Mata has the opportunity of getting inside the box whereas Ramires can move front or go back and defend. Ba has revved up his engine and is looking to move into the space ahead of him as Hazard looks for the correct moment to give him a through ball. He can even continue down the right flank.

Take your time and look at the frame above. Ba has made the run and Hazard has picked him out. Both Mata and Ramires have entered the box and this gives Chelsea a greater chance of picking up a rebound and scoring if Ba hits the keeper. Moses is asking for a pass and Hazard has noticed it.

This is where we understand the difference between a direct and indirect approach. An indirect approach would have seen Hazard play a high lofted ball to Moses, whose trajectory can be seen in the dotted curved line. The direct approach sees the ball played to Ba, which ended in a fine goal.

Did you enjoy seeing him play and score these 2 goals? Can he keep Torres on the bench?