CHELSEA

Chelsea star left back will ‘struggle’ under new manager

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According to journalist Simon Phillips, Chelsea left-back Ben Chilwell will “struggle” under new manager Graham Potter. Graham Potter has replaced Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge following the German’s sacking. Graham Potter is a masterful tactician and innovator who is hailed as one of the best managers in all of England. The highly respected coach will now manage a top six team of the League for the first time. Earlier he had extremely successful stints as a manager with Swansea and Ostersunds.

Several critics of Graham Potter’s appointment as a new Chelsea head coach cite his inexperience as a major argument against this appointment. However, tactically speaking, Chelsea are not drastically changing their play style. Both Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter mold extremely flexible teams. They use fullbacks as a major component while in the attack. However, there is one point of difference between them. Potter prefers to use natural wingers as wingbacks. At Brighton, Trossard, and Solly March, natural wingers, were used as fullbacks to great effect. This is where Chilwell might struggle

Simon Johnson’s view on the Chelsea fullback’s situation

Simon Johnson, in an interview with GiveMeSport, said:

Potter much prefers to use wingers at wing-back, so it’s going to be interesting there to see how and where Reece James and Ben Chilwell will fit into the team. I think Reece James would be fine as an attacking winger or wing-back, but I think Ben Chilwell is going to struggle a little bit more.

Ben Chilwell is primarily a full-back. The Chelsea left-back is comfortable in the full-back position only. This means that he will have to carry out a set of tactical instructions that he isn’t familiar with. This has led to the speculation that the left-back will struggle under the new Chelsea manager. However, the speculations are unfounded. According to FBref, The left-back is in the 99th percentile for total shots, 98th percentile in the touches in the penalty area, and 97th in the progressive passes received. Chilwell has shown up whenever Chelsea have needed him the most. The best example is his great run and control ability against West Ham to score an equalizer. All these indicate that Chilwell can adapt to the new Chelsea manager’s attacking demand. However, only time will tell if this is the case for the ex-Leicester man.

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