Visiting a famous and ferocious crowd with added motivation due to the mourning of former player George Baldock, it was expected that the Athens crowd would be harsher and create a more hostile atmosphere against the visiting Blues.
However, the ‘hostile’ atmosphere didn’t last long as Chelsea doused early tension and survived the pressure from the hosts after the first 15 minutes before gaining full control of the game.
One important factor to gaining control of the game was the burgeoning influence of Enzo Fernandez in the middle of the park.
Playing in pivot alongside Dewsbury-Hall, Enzo was tasked with setting the tempo of the game for the Blues as the team’s main ball handler alongside Badiashile.
Since Maresca took charge, this was the first time Enzo started a game as the deepest lying midfielder.
A topic that has been of huge debate since Enzo joined Chelsea for a fee in the excess of 100 million pounds remains; “How is Enzo best utilised?”
Four coaches (Potter, Lampard, Pochettino and now Maresca) gone, and this question remains a huge debate and topic amongst Chelsea faithfuls.
Is Enzo best utilized as a Box-to-box, lone 6 or double pivot?
When played as a box-to-box in Maresca’s favored 3-2-5 on-ball shape, Enzo gets lesser touches on the ball and his influence as a left attacking mid / left centre mid continues to sub-par.
Also, Enzo’s inability to sufficiently support his wingers with in-seam/overlapping runs means the winger on his side tends to face a lot of 1V2 where Enzo prefers to stay a bit deeper and wait for the ball to feet in the half-spaces.
Enzo’s coverage of large distances when returning from the left attacking midfield positions back into the double pivot leaves much to be desired as he’s often slow to recover and weak in the duels when chasing back.
Always wanting to get on the ball, Enzo tends to vacate the left-half space and drops very deep to get touches on the ball, but often backing the opposition’s goal, thereby limiting his ability to positively influence play.
However, when utilised as a pivot and deep in midfield, Enzo Fernandez consistently looks the best version of himself.
Getting many touches and as frequent as possible brings Fernandez ‘alive’ and this position is the exact one he occupies for his national team, Argentina.
Playing in the pivot tonight, Enzo completed a total of 5 out of 7 attempted long balls while also having a 94% success rate on his passes.
All of these impressive stats were garnered in just 71 minutes of play the 23-year lasted on the pitch.
One disadvantage of having Enzo deeper however, is his poor dueling ability.
Despite the level of opposition tonight, Enzo won only 40% of his ground duels and when faced up against Premier League-level attackers, it is possible Enzo gets ‘torn’ in transition.
With the emergence of Lavia this season after his long injury lay-off, Enzo Fernandez has come under intense pressure to retain his place in the team as Caicedo continues to perform incredibly well and has now become one of the first names of the team’s sheets.
It is now up to Enzo to not only play his way back into Maresca’s team, but also into the hearts of many Chelsea fans who are beginning to lose their patience with the 23-year old World Cup winner.
It remains to be seen what players Maresca would opt for in the midfield positions against Newcastle this Sunday at the bridge.
All in all, Enzo Fernandez may be Maresca’s biggest tactical conundrum right now and also in the future.
