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Midfield mayhem
Frank Lampard no doubt has an illustrious crop of midfielders at Stamford Bridge, including the likes of N’golo Kante, Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount, Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek at his disposal. However, none of them have been able to provide a potent attacking threat this season.
Only Mount has excelled in terms of goals and assists this season, with five and two respectively in 24 appearances but his performances have lacked intensity and a cutting edge recently. The 21-year-old Englishman, although, has often been deployed in a more attacking role by the former Derby County manager. Kovacic has also played extremely well as a tireless box-to-box midfielder this season, but his lack of attacking prowess is a liability going forward. The often-reliable Kante has a 46% tackle success rate this season, which is incredibly low as per his world-class standards. And lastly, Loftus-Cheek is yet to even feature this term.
Firstly, Lampard’s frequent midfield rotation hampers the players’ consistency and flow. Secondly, Jorginho, Kante and Kovacic are all primarily defensive-minded midfielders, and shoe-horning them together in the centre of the park not only creates unwanted congestion but also shuts down vital attacking outlets. Kante is no doubt an immaculate interceptor, ball-winner and a supreme tackler who thrives in the defensive-midfield position, but because Jorginho is the team’s pass-master and distributor, the Frenchman has to play a more advanced role, one which clearly not suits his playing style.
In contrast, Mount and Barkley are attack-minded players and though the former has made a promising start to life in the English top-flight, both of them are largely inconsistent and ineffective in large parts of matches.
Frank Lampard, therefore, needs to strike a much-needed balance in Chelsea’s midfield if they are to rise to their best form again.
