Levi Colwill’s performance was a perfect bounce back after Middlesbrough nightmare

Frightened fans and an immensely tense set of players on the pitch never make for a good ending to a game but that is fast becoming a reoccurring theme for Chelsea in the past games, a win is a win regardless.

Chelsea’s 1-0 win against London rivals Fulham means the Blues leapfrog Manchester United into 8th.

Now, we take a closer look at Levi Colwill.

Having to deputise in an unfamiliar position as a left Back, Colwill has found it difficult to adapt but his resilience and eagerness to learn has meant Pochettino continues his experimentation of the academy graduate in that position.

Playing Colwill as a left back has its pros and cons and one major positive it has is the added height that the young centre back brings to the Chelsea team.

Still only 20, Colwill’s ability on the ball is undoubtedly one of the best in his position as a left centre back, but what stands him out as a young defender is his aerial ability (72.3% aerial duels won before this game in the PL).

Standing at 187cm, it is no surprise that Colwill is a little bit slow in the first meters and doesn’t have the quick bursts one would expect a fullback to have.

This weakness was evident and exploited in the loss to Middlesbrough on Tuesday as Isiah Jones got joy getting in behind Colwill down the flanks.

Continuing his education as a left back today, Colwill had probably his best game yet in a Chelsea shirt as he won 8/13 ground duels, 2/4 aerial duels, recovered the ball 10 times and made 6 clearances.

Colwill’s present education as a left back is expected to leave him in good stead as he looks to return to his ‘original’ position as a centre back now that Ben Chilwell is back.

Levi himself has admitted that he’s presently enjoying the tasks that playing left back has rendered him and that he is confident of becoming a better Center back when he returns to the central of defence.

Though this experiment has not paid off entirely, I think we can all agree that the added defensive tasks and situations he has been put under will have only made him improve, even if we can’t see the fruits of that yet.