Watching Chelsea's Josh Acheampong closely to see if he can fill Maresca's problem position

New York Times

3 days ago

Eight months ago, when Josh Acheampong made a surprise first Premier League start against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, Jean-Philippe Mateta was not really his responsibility.
Mateta tried at times to isolate the teenager when attempting to connect with long balls aimed in his direction, but as the middle defender in Enzo Maresca's back three in possession that day, Levi Colwill was the Frenchman's primary marker. Acheampong could focus on defending the space to the right of his fellow Cobham graduate and behind Malo Gusto. He did it very well.
Advertisement
'All the players, for me, were good but if I had to decide for one, I think for sure, Josh was our best player because of his age, it was his first game,' Maresca said of Acheampong at the time.
Sunday's goalless stalemate with Palace at Stamford Bridge was a different challenge, a ramping-up of the difficulty in these early chapters of Acheampong's career.
Shorn of both Colwill to an ACL injury and Tosin Adarabioyo to what Maresca would only describe as a 'physical problem', Chelsea needed Acheampong to do Colwill's job off the ball and on it — a double brief that, considering the impressive solidity of Palace and the particular attributes of Mateta, might have been the most difficult individual assignment on the pitch.
Acheampong never gives the impression of being fazed and signalled his readiness, as well as his intent, inside the first minute.
Palace's narrow three-man attacking line closed in on Chelsea's defenders as they exchanged sideways passes until Acheampong received the ball, moving to his left with Mateta and Ismaila Sarr both closing in and no obvious forward passing options. Rather than going back to Robert Sanchez, he deftly dribbled between them, waited to commit Palace's second line of pressure, and then sent a pass out to Reece James on the right flank before taking the contact.
Acheampong is not yet the passer Colwill is. That is no criticism; Colwill is exceptional at identifying and rattling low passes through the middle of the pitch, carving through opposition lines and finding the feet of Cole Palmer and others in more advanced positions. His rare vision and technique provide a vital gear change to Chelsea's possession play.
The baseline stats for Acheampong in possession against Palace make for impressive reading: 99 touches (second only to Trevoh Chalobah among Chelsea players) and 80 of 86 passes completed in open play. But, also in part due to the visitors' positional intelligence and discipline in their defensive shell, he only completed four progressive passes. Palmer, Enzo Fernandez and Joao Pedro had little to work with in the final third.
One thing that Acheampong can already do arguably better than any of Chelsea's other defenders is break the first line of opposition pressure with a dribble rather than a pass. Mateta grew grimly accustomed to watching the youngster glide past him. On one occasion around the hour mark, Acheampong carried the ball into the Palace half and delayed for a crucial split second to enable the passing angle he wanted, out to Pedro Neto on the left touchline, to open up.
Advertisement
Acheampong only played two bad passes in the game, even if both were memorable and nearly disastrous. The first, an attempted progressive pass towards the right intercepted by Eberechi Eze in the 11th minute, initiated the sequence that ended with Palace's star hammering in a free kick through Sanchez, only for Chelsea to be saved by a VAR review and the obscure Law 13.
The second, a sideways pass hit behind Moises Caicedo that also fell for Eze in the 69th minute, set up a three-on-two break for Palace that Eze scuppered by immediately attempting a ludicrous shot from 40 yards. Two bad passes out of 86 is a good day on the ball by any estimation, but the reality of this position in Chelsea's system is that any time possession is lost carries grave risk.
Maresca insisted on Friday that Colwill and Tosin are the only two defenders in his squad capable of playing as the middle defender and primary ball progressor in his back three. Acheampong's performance against Palace may not have changed his mind, but there were also plenty of flashes of the huge talent that has earned the 19-year-old this opportunity and underpin his case to win many more.
Mateta's blend of relentless activity, impressive mobility and smart physicality make him one of the toughest pure No 9s in the Premier League to play against, and he inevitably had moments of dominance when tussling with Acheampong. One of those moments ended up yielding the flashbulb sequence of the Cobham graduate's performance on Sunday.
It played out in the 32nd minute, with Mateta holding off Acheampong, bringing down a long ball out of the Palace defence and hitting it ahead of Daniel Munoz's overlapping run on the right. Undeterred by losing the initial engagement, Acheampong pivoted into a sprint and neutralised Munoz with a brilliantly firm but fair sliding tackle. He then got up quickly enough to beat Mateta to the loose ball. The Frenchman clattered into him and was booked.
'Very good,' Maresca said in his post-match press conference when asked about Acheampong's performance. 'I already showed confidence in Josh last year, he played already some games. He did very well, he dealt with Mateta very good. Overall, he did a good game.'
Maresca gave no timeframe on Tosin's injury, and when asked whether he is concerned about not having a centre-back to play the Colwill role, his reply was curt: 'I already spoke about that.'
Advertisement
Concerns about Chelsea's ability to build their possession without Colwill — and perhaps also Tosin — for an extended period of time will not be eased by Sunday's performance. Acheampong may not be a perfect solution to that particular problem position right now, and it is too early to say if he can develop into it. But he supplied further evidence here that he is ready to play in the Premier League this season, and do so regularly.
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms
Find the hidden link between sports terms
Play today's puzzle