How Are You, Demba Ba?

Demba Ba is the forgotten man at Chelsea. His arrival wasn’t really expected by many Chelsea fans and he’s doubted to be able to play at Chelsea level. His debut at Stamford Bridge wasn’t impressive either that majority of Chelsea fans prefer Torres to him last season. That’s fair judgement considering his poor performance this season with Chelsea. Only able to manage 2 goals in the league despite he scored 13 league goals at Newcastle prior to his January move.
Honestly, I expected that to happen. I’m a football fan who believes that any footballer needs time to adapt and they have different level in adapting at their new clubs. Especially at Chelsea, I’ve never seen a newly-signed striker scored many goals. Whilst goals don’t always reflecting how good or how effective any players are, it’s worrying to see that Chelsea strikers who’ve been signed since Abramovich took over, never really impressive in their first season.

From the table above we understand that even Didier Drogba wasn’t able to manage more than 10 goals in his full season debut. Whereas Torres, Anelka, and Ba weren’t impressive in half season debut either, it’s not hard to imagine that Chelsea have something that makes new strikers always finding it difficult to find the net in their debut season. If you ask me why, I don’t know. It’s not a good thing but it surely is not a surprise when you heard that Ba does the same as well.
As one of the top clubs in the world, we’re always linked to big name players. Names like Falcao, Edinson Cavani, and Robert Lewandowski are several top-class forwards that could steal striker spot from Demba Ba at Chelsea. Not to mention that Torres slightly promising last season and Lukaku established himself as exciting prospect after his successful loan at West Brom. With or without signing new striker, Demba Ba position is under real threat. Especially if he can’t improve or back to his Newcastle form.
If you ask me do we really have to sell Demba Ba, I would answer no. Not only because all Chelsea strikers under Abramovich era had a bad time in their debut (and I choose him over Torres), but also because he has experience to score 15 premier league goals in a season. Albeit only scored 2 league goals in Blue shirt, in last two seasons he successfully collected 31 league goals. But there’s a weird thing in him actually. If you take a clooser look, not only at Chelsea he wasn’t perform after January move, but also his performance at Newcastle after Papiss Cisse joined in January 2012 had been poor. Here’s a look of how strange it is:

That said a lot that he wasn’t great in finding the net after Papiss Cisse joined Newcastle. That’s simply because he had to play wider in order to support Cisse’s play. He also had to make more defensive contribution since January 2012, where Cisse’s focusing on finishing and Ben Arfa’s reluctanct to track back, Demba Ba wasn’t really helped to score goals but he helped his team. That’s still a good thing even he couldn’t score more goals despite he attempted more shots after Cisse joined.
At Chelsea, the situation was a bit different. He rarely played together with Torres or play wider than his favoured CF position. I watched him closely and all I can say is he had very poor finishing. In other words, he’s still good at positioning and making late runs. Alas, his shots were so awful that he did shoot 8 times and 5 of them were out of target. The other 3? straight to the keeper.
However, I still choose Ba over Torres even Torres was better than him last season. Simply because Torres’ current style is more like false 9, not like number 9. Torres’ movement is fluid as he helped his teammates by creating chances and opening space. In that regard, Torres is better than Ba and more useful. See the table below for simple comparison:

Torres much better in terms of creating chances because he’s more involved than Ba. Sadly, his movement isn’t well-equipped with fine finishing. He found himself difficult to shoot the ball due to play wider than traditional centre forward. In short, his movement is useful but it’s not what we really want from a 50m striker. Especially after the signing of Andre Schurrle, a striker who can play wide better than Torres.
Compared to Torres, Demba Ba is more like traditional no. 9. His best potential wasted when he had to play wide like what happened short after Cisse joined Newcastle – but when Cisse was awful, Ba scored again. He always tries to position himself in 6 yard box as he attempted average 3,3 shots per game compared to 1,9 shots per game by Torres. He also won more aerial duels than Torres, which is an important aspect if your team is playing with one target man: bully your opposition’s defenders with strength.
Those numbers above are less than Ba in Black and white shirt though. It means that Demba Ba was underperformed last season and still has all the knowledge to score 15 goals a season. Whether Jose Mourinho decides to buy a striker or not, I’m hoping he’s not the one to be sold after a very short spell at Stamdford Bridge. Even if we sign Edinson Cavani, I don’t consider Demba Ba is surplus to requirements if he sold. He’s on £70k a week which is not expensive compared to £200k a week Fernando Torres. He’s also 28 year old already, which means he doesn’t have higher resale value after we signed him for £7m from Newcastle United.
I would be extremely sad to see Demba Ba leaving after very short spell at Stamford Bridge. Ba is not a world class striker and he’s never gonna be one. But I firmly believe he could bring valuable depth for Jose Mourinho’s squad and being a fine rotation by banging goals regularly. Even if he becomes 2nd or 3rd choice CF behind Lukaku or Cavani, it doesn’t bother me. All I hope is he’s staying this season because I believe in his ability.