Juan Mata breaks the mechanics of Chelsea's pounding rhythms
The Spaniard reminded Stamford Bridge what it has been missing since José Mourinho's side turned pragmatic
More worrying than Chelsea's huge trading losses has been their creativity deficit: a shortfall André Villas-Boas was hired to correct. Juan Mata – Stamford Bridge's answer to David Silva – scored 24 minutes into his debut as a substitute here but it will take more than one floating artist to change this team's mechanical tendencies.
This was a dramatic clash between newly promoted provincial England and a multibillionaire's London empire. It featured a mid-air knockout for Didier Drogba, who ended up in hospital, a later red card for the Norwich goalkeeper, John Ruddy, and goals for José Bosingwa, Frank Lampard (penalty) and Mata, who replaced Florent Malouda moments after Ruddy had jumped for a high ball and rendered Drogba unconscious before he even had time to hit the ground, which he did with an ominous thump.
By the time he recovered his senses, half an hour later, Chelsea had taken an evolutionary step. Mata's cameo on the left reminded the congregation what they have been missing; and when Romelu Lukaku replaced Fernando Torres on 82 minutes it was as if the new Drogba had joined the action.
Villas-Boas is not the first Chelsea manager to be given an entertainment brief by Roman Abramovich. Luiz Felipe Scolari was employed as a World Cup-winning Brazilian choreographer but barely advanced past first base with the players. Carlo Ancelotti, too, was asked to raise the fun quota but was dispatched 12 months after winning a League and FA Cup double.
"I know exactly what the owner asks me to do. It wasn't all based on titles," Villas-Boas said on the eve of the new campaign. "I wouldn't be happy if I go a season without titles. But it goes alongside a good philosophy and a good playing style."
The need to excite the owner in return for his £700m-plus investment has been a constant undercurrent since José Mourinho's initially adventurous Chelsea side turned more muscular and pragmatic. The best Chelsea teams have tended to be an exercise in power: models of good organisation. This is not the same as dull. There was plenty to admire in Lampard's roving and Drogba's old-school centre-forward play. The missing element, though, has been ingenuity, lightness of touch, the subtle use of space.
At £23.5m, Mata is a new direction, as Luka Modric was also meant to be. No news there, Villas-Boas said. In the face of Barcelona's artistic supremacy, all of the big European clubs are searching for playmaking talent that approximates to Xavi, Andrés Iniesta and now Cesc Fábregas. At a lower level, Norwich are blessed with at least one trequartista: Wes Hoolahan, who was fearlessly ambitious at the head of Paul Lambert's midfield before giving way after an hour to Steve Morison, a striker.
A dainty wide player who floats in from the flanks is an asset but the biggest premium is on inventive midfielders who can run the game from the centre. This is a seller's market, which is why Inter's Wesley Sneijder can demand such high wages. Either Samir Nasri or Silva will seize this vaunted role for Manchester City. Chelsea hoped Modric would, but may now have to turn to Mata, who will need physical authority to go with his dexterity and spatial awareness.
Villas-Boas denies he is still short of lock-pickers. "All the players are creative – they just express themselves in different ways," he said. "Mata found some good spaces today for a player with only two training sessions. The team helped him find some spaces, especially when Nicolas [Anelka] and Romelu [Lukaku] came on."
In search of a more dynamic set-up, Villas-Boas has been right through the formations book. He has tried 4-3-3, 4-4-2 and 4-1-3-2. "We have this flexibility and we are able to perform it with all these structures," he said. Ancelotti and now Villas-Boas reach that moment with the pencil when they must decide: Drogba or Torres? Or both? And all at some point say "To hell with it, I'll play the pair." Indecision, or boldness (call it what you will), has yet to yield a positive outcome. Torres has scored once for Chelsea in 21 appearances (14 starts, seven off the bench). Mata managed to open his own account within 24 minutes, exploiting a bad back-pass with a curling left-foot finish. Both Drogba and Torres have yet to score in league games they have started together and there is simply no chemistry there. At least Drogba's probable lay-off will remove the dilemma of which to leave out.
Henrique Hilário's error in jumping into his own defender for a high ball that fell to Grant Holt to hook in presents another problem for the young manager to solve, with Petr Cech out injured. Chelsea's loyalty to Hilário is baffling.
But the overarching task is to break up the team's pounding rhythms in favour of a more creative outlook.
In time, a Chelsea midfield that can call on Mata and Josh McEachran with Modric or his equivalent will take the team beyond the Lampard-Michael Essien-Mikel John Obi years (Essien is a long-term injury absentee, of course). The Torres conundrum remains, but Lukaku looks a prospect, and Oriol Romeu, from Barcelona, has yet to come in. Abramovich will have his way, as he always does, but not quickly.
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