Full backs and wing backs have become the key to modern football, and at Chelsea they’re always at the centre of discussions.
They became vital to success under Antonio Conte and then Thomas Tuchel, and the constant injuries we had in those positions then sank a couple of seasons in a row. Since then it’s an endless battle to keep our options fresh and fit.
Last night we saw Malo Gusto return from injury to get 45 minutes and hopefully warm him up for the weekend. Then we saw outcast Ben Chilwell unfrozen from his storage to play the second half. Manager Enzo Maresca even had some comments of his own on the full backs and the changes he had made:
“We tried to prepare the game, [the selection] depends on the other team. We try to find solutions and Palace was one plan, today was another plan. Malo in the first-half, Chilwell in the second-half were playing like attacking midfielders on the ball. It is to create an overload on one side of the pitch; to have more options to pass, not just one. The idea is to give them more solutions and then they decide.”
Wide rotation set to be a feature of Chelsea’s season
While Maresca’s system doesn’t rely on the full back to quite the same extent as the previous systems we’ve seen, it does use them in an interesting “inverted” way.
Gusto is going to be massive for us this season, no matter what happens with Reece James. The fact that Chilwell has already broken back into contention shows just how many minutes there are to be shared around given how exhausting playing that position can be.
