Chelsea’s midfield has turn out to be the brand new point of interest for Emma Hayes this season because the Women’s Super League prepares for its return after a winter break.
Hayes’ facet resume three factors clear on the summit with a top-of-the-table clash in opposition to Arsenal reside on Sky on Sunday with ambitions of retaining their crown and profitable a primary European title.
Where in earlier seasons, Chelsea have been capable of establish and resolve issues inside their stable defence and free-flowing assault, the problems lingering throughout the midfield have not all the time been simple to mitigate. Ahead of this weekend’s clash with rivals Arsenal, it might be a pivotal space of play.
The final two years have given the facet little or no time to course of how they may accomplish that, with a humbling 4-0 loss to Barcelona within the Champions League last two years in the past, and a nervy end to the WSL marketing campaign final 12 months, the place they pipped Arsenal to the league title on the ultimate day of the season.
In that point, Jonas Eidevall’s Arsenal facet have recovered by trying to find extra forwards to dismantle the reigning champions, particularly with key attackers Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema out with long-term ACL accidents.
Hayes, nevertheless, has had a number of alternatives to bolster her midfield, to various levels of success.
The first was the introduction of Melanie Leupolz in March 2020. A former stalwart of Bayern Munich’s midfield, Leupolz slotted in with ease, and was an integral half of Chelsea’s WSL-winning marketing campaign, scoring 9 targets in 34 appearances.
She additionally began 24 of the 26 matches in each the WSL and Champions League in 2020/21, main the Blues in whole tackles within the WSL whereas performing as one of Chelsea’s most inventive passers and holding midfielders.
It wasn’t till earlier this season in October when she introduced her being pregnant, and subsequent spell away from soccer, that issues turned sophisticated.
The newest information, nevertheless, will please Chelsea followers. Indeed, Leupolz has signed a brand new deal to stay with the membership till 2026, and is set to return to observe as her maternity interval involves an finish.
While she was away, Hayes tried completely different participant combos to plug that hole. It started with So-yun Ji adopting a extra conservative place alongside Jessie Fleming or Fran Kirby taking over the shadow-striker function. When Ji returned to her homeland after eight years with the Blues, Hayes swapped the Korean worldwide for Erin Cuthbert and Guro Reiten. Though these pairings had been capable of do the job, so to talk, none had been capable of replicate Leupolz’ efforts.
The season completed with a 3rd successive title for Chelsea, however simply as after the final three campaigns, loads of questions surrounded the crew. Who or what would offer the ending touches to the crew to copy that league success in Europe?
Hayes admitted that there was a ‘profile’ she was on the lookout for to realize that over the summer season, and it was clear that the litany of, thus far, unsolvable midfield issues, had been prime of the record.
In got here Eve Perisset, Kadeisha Buchanan, Lucy Watson, Katerina Svitkova, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Jelena Cankovic. Cankovic appeared the perfect short-term substitute for Leupolz, whereas Svitkova’s capability to play each centrally and on the correct wing boded properly. The one factor they had been lacking and failed to accumulate, was a quantity eight.
Chelsea had initially tried to proper that flawed by making a world-record bid of over £425,000 for France midfielder Grace Geyoro, after her spectacular Euro 2020 marketing campaign the place she scored six targets in 14 appearances. And it appeared that the PSG star was additionally eager for a transfer to London.
Grace Geyoro (R) celebrating her Euro 2020 objective.
She spoke with the French newspaper L’Equipe: “I had a few meetings with the management, I explained to them the why and how of my desire to leave. Today, I have one foot in Paris and one foot in Chelsea. I’ve been at Paris Saint-Germain for ten years now, I’ve experienced a lot of things, and now I have an opportunity.”
But regardless of the curiosity from each events, PSG put their foot down, adamant on protecting Geyoro round to gas their European and home ambitions, and that meant that Chelsea entered the 2022/23 season with no recognisable quantity eight.
Should they’ve had backup choices? Kiera Walsh and Amandine Henry had been the names doing the rounds, however Manchester City realistically would by no means have bought the previous to a rival membership, and the latter was satisfied to stay throughout the confines of Feminine Division 1 with Lyon.
It was a tactical error that may rear its ugly head within the very first recreation of the season with an unexpected 2-1 defeat to newly-promoted Liverpool. The Reds’ Katie Stengel fired residence two penalties and had the run of the mill within the centre of the park.
Just like that, the Blues had discovered themselves in the identical place they had been final season: behind rivals Arsenal after only one recreation.
Hayes needed to make a transfer, however as she recovered from an emergency hysterectomy, she might solely watch from the sidelines. The tactical tweak she known as for normal supervisor Paul Green to make was a stroke of genius, however really it had been a premeditated one.
Enter stage-right: Cuthbert.
The Scottish worldwide had missed Euro 2020, her nation had didn’t qualify. In the time it took for her English teammates to win the event, Cuthbert was present process one-on-one coaching, turning into accustomed to her new function in central midfield.
It was a job she can be relishing; Cuthbert had been in dialog with Hayes about her need to play in central midfield for some time, having been fielded because the roaming left-sided midfielder. Though she had been deployed there final 12 months, there was much less technique behind what she was being instructed to do. This season has been totally completely different, with Cuthbert having an 88 per cent cross completion fee and connecting properly with her teammates.
“This pre-season, I’ve had a lot of time to solidify the ins and outs and nail down the position,” she mentioned in an interview with 90mins.
Her partner-in-crime, Sophie Ingle, has been beside her, having developed a wealth of expertise within the function for Wales, and the pair thus far have been a reckonable drive. Ingle significantly had executed such an excellent job that Hayes rewarded her with a two-year contract extension. She described it as getting a name in regards to the supply, and easily telling her agent: ‘get it executed’.
With the duo absorbing the stress in midfield, it is allowed Chelsea’s wingers to stretch opposition defenders on the wings and broaden the size of their interchangeable assault – one thing that will likely be key in opposition to Arsenal’s quantity 9, Stina Blackstenius.
Leading the cost is Guro Reiten. Over the final two seasons, the Norwegian worldwide has revitalised Chelsea’s left-wing, proving to be a lethal characteristic of the Blues’ 4-2-3-1 assault.
Most not too long ago, she snapped up the December Player of the Month, undoubtedly for her four-assist efficiency in opposition to Leicester City. Reiten was simply capable of present for the likes of Sam Kerr and Lauren James, snatching a objective for herself too in an eight-goal thrashing of the Midlands facet. She now has a whopping 9 assists in 10 video games.
Where she has been key is drifting in centrally and choosing out key passes for James and co. Given that Arsenal have parted methods with Jordan Nobbs and are pivoting with Kim Little because the deepest midfielder, protecting Reiten confined to the by-line will likely be one option to include this Chelsea crew.
If Hayes’ facet can maintain the momentum going with their present midfield plans, then their possibilities of emulating their success will amplify. That begins this weekend in opposition to Arsenal, and extra mainly, the Gunners’ new attacking signing Victoria Pelova.
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