Shaping up for Next Season Part 2

Part 1 
In the second part I am going to talk about the pivot in our midfield which is vital to the way we defend as without this we would get over run by teams.

What we need
What we need in the Pivot is two players who both do an equal shift of attacking and defending or one for just defending and one who gets up and down the pitch.

A Ball winner
Every Centre midfield or Pivot needs a ball winner and we have two in the form of Mikel and Oriol Romeu.

Eventhough Mikel is not the best tackler he is however very good at reading the game and is good at intercepting opposition passes,breaking down their play and is very strong in the air. I know everyone moans (I put my hands up to this) about his one dimensional passing of back to the defence or passing it square and the fact he hasnt scored since he signed for us but that wasn’t why he was signed, over the past two season we would have been a lot worse off than we are now if it was not for Mikel consistency. He is turning into the player that everyone was hoping he would become, he is becoming an integral part of our team and you can see the difference between him playing and not playing in recent games.

Oriol Romeu knows how to tackle and to tackle hard. He is hard in the tackle and can read the game well but not as good as Mikel but in time he could, he can spot a pass as well being it short or long. We bought Romeu from Barca and he knows the tiki taka play style which is good as we have created our own style of passing that is like the tiki taka but not completely the same. With him injured though at the moment his progress has haulted but he did have a good 1st season for us helping with the rotation with Mikel, Lampard, Ramires and Raul Meireles and has worked well. This is the main reason why we did not buy anyone for the pivot and stuck with the four we have now. Romeu’s injury has come as a blow though as he was being used and rotated well and he has been ruled out for the season unfortunately.

Box to Box
Ramires is a box to box midfielder in a sense as he seems to not stop running for the team up and down the pitch, he an abundance of stamina and keeps on going he is very useful near the end of games when the opposition is tired he burst forward when we counter and sometimes gets a goal ie Goal vs United in the Capital One Cup. He could improve on his passing more though as he can misplace his passes sometimes. He has great agility and balance which help him stay on his feet and hold on to the ball. He is very good at tackling as well which means he is suited for the Pivot.

Nathaniel Chalobah eventhough he is down as a Centre Back for me I can see him being in the Pivot as he plays Centre Midfield for Watford and plays as a box to box player and is a lot like Ramires just less pace and stamina but the stamina can be worked on. He is good in the air and good at tackling but you would not expect anything else from a centre back would you though.

Utility Man
We have a utility but he is out on loan at the moment. Micheal Essien the Bison is on loan at Real Madrid with the man he calls ‘Daddy’ he has been in and out of the Madrid team playing mainly at right back but sometimes covers for Kheidira in the Pivot of theres. Essien is strong, good tackler and has a good pass and of course he can shoot. Youtube Essien vs Barcelona theres your proof. He has however been blighted with injuries as of late and found first team football hard to come by since these injuries and has never really got back to that bullish figure of old.

Playmaker
Josh McEachran is on Loan at Middlesborough and is earning a lot of respect and gaining some valuable experience as well. He has good vision, excellent passing and he can go past a player. Josh was tipped to be the replacement for Lampard just left footed. He came into the frame under Ancelotti who was trying to bring the promising youngster into the frame. However after Carlo was sacked Josh kind of melted away back to the reserve team. He has the ability to play at the top level and I do believe he has a future at Chelsea.

David Luiz I would put him under Utility but he could become a faster more skillful Xabi Alonso with him having deadly passing, strong in the air, ok in the tackle and can get up and down the pitch quickly. Luiz has been played in the pivot while Mikel was away and Romeu was injured and he played well filling in. He showed that playing the deep lying midfielder role could be his calling as he was able to do his thing freely and still had cover behind him unlike centre back.

As a Whole Them
I think that Mikel, Romeu and Ramires are definately going to playing in the Pivot and can see McEachran being involved along with Chalobah. David Luiz I think will mainly be in at Centre back. Im not sure on what will happen to Essien on whether he will be sold, loaned out again or kept at the club, if he is then I see either Chalobah or McEachran going out on Loan possibly Chalobah more than likely.

What do you think of the pivot?

Leave your comments and request on what to talk about