THINKING ABOUT SQUAD DEPTH AND CHELSEA LADIES’ BEST LINEUP

When Chelsea won the league back in 2015, they had pretty much a set starting lineup from the first moment to last. Besides an injury to Gilly Flaherty early on and the addition of Fran Kirby midseason which displaced Drew Spence, the team was very stable – and arguably it was this stability that was key in their triumph in both league and cup.

Fast forward to the 2017 Spring Series and the team has a very different approach; with an influx of top international talent (and a brutal schedule), mass rotation was both necessary and effective as the Blues picked up another trophy.

But now with even more new additions Chelsea clearly have the players to be challenging on all fronts this season, but how will Emma Hayes manage a squad who are not just talented, but also incredibly versatile?

Conundrum between the sticks

We’ll look at the team from back to front, and here we are starting with what is undoubtedly the most interesting choice faced by Hayes. In Hedvig Lindahl and Carly Telford she has two of the best in the league, and with Becky Spencer coming back into the fold after a long period out with injury that makes three keepers who are worthy of starting for a top team.

Both Lindahl and Telford are in their 30s but have contracts until 2019, and I can’t see either of them being at all happy on the bench. It’s widely known how highly Emma rates Lindahl and after two seasons as the club’s #1 it’s hard to see her turning her back on the Swede, but on the other hand would a player of Telford’s ability and age sign a two-year contract knowing she’d be playing second fiddle? With Mary Earps constantly proving herself at domestic level, it’s vital that Telford plays regularly in order to maintain her spot in the England squad.

This being said, you have to remember that in women’s football opportunities to train full-time are few and far between, so it’s also entirely understandable that either of these players would risk playing minutes simply for the chance to be a professional athlete.

Becky Spencer is another curiosity – she was Birmingham’s starting goalkeeper before joining Chelsea in 2016 and when called in she arguably outperformed Lindahl with a string of stellar performances, but was instantly dropped as soon as the #1 recovered from injury. From the outside it seemed like Spencer was destined to take over as Chelsea’s top keeper going forward, but now her future is up in the air. She only has a contract until the end of this season and has been facing injury troubles on and off for the past 18 months. She’s a player who shouldn’t be on the bench, let alone the third-string keeper. Seeing where she fits in this season will be very interesting indeed.

Options in the backline

Last season’s back three was probably the most settled part of the team – although you could argue this was due to lack of options more than anything. After Jade Bailey tore her ACL and was out for the season, the trio of Millie Bright, Deanna Cooper, and Gilly Flaherty established themselves. Maren Mjelde also played her part, but she is undoubtedly more effective in midfield.

This defence would probably have started the season as they finished the last – six clean sheets in eight games is, of course, an impeccable record – but with Cooper ruled out for the year, a spanner has well and truly been thrown in the works. We named her Player of the Year in our Season Review, and with good reason; she is not only incredibly pacey, she has impeccable judgement and is comfortable on the ball as well.

Luckily, Chelsea have brought in very able replacements in Magda Eriksson and Maria Thorisdottir. Both have impressed in preseason and are established internationals, so either of them could slot right into the team. It seems unlikely that Bright would drop out of the starting lineup, but there is always the possibility that she could move into her preferred position of centre mid – although there is already massive competition there as well.

All of this is, of course, assuming that the team continue in the 3-4-3 system that has worked so well in the last 12 months. Whilst Eriksson and Thorisdottir are class acts, there are obviously going to be question marks over how quickly they’ll adjust to a formation which is new to them both.

The wingback situation

The new formation – and resulting introduction of the wingback role to the team – has been the making (and breaking) of certain players. For Hannah Blundell (the young English talent) and Crystal Dunn (the American superstar), the wingback position has been a revelation. Both are very athletic players who possess flair and are defensively sound in a type of equilibrium perfect for this position. Beth England is another player who showed her all-round ability, but with her loan move to Liverpool it seems that Blundell and Dunn have really put their names on the roles – especially as they are both capable of playing on the left or the right.

Chelsea’s other options at wingback are perhaps two players who have lost their starting spots due to the demands of the 3-4-3. It leaves no room for your traditional defensive fullbacks or tricky wingers, and as a result both Claire Rafferty and Gemma Davison found themselves on the outside looking in.

Rafferty’s regular injury woes mean that it’s probably not a smart move to rely on her as a starter anyway, but the Davison situation is very complicated. She is undoubtedly one of the most skilful players in the team and the league, but from watching her dabble at wingback during Spring Series I just don’t see it as something that will be smart moving forward, as she too often found herself too high up the pitch or caught out of position as she tried to pull tricks with no fullback covering her. She certainly has the potential to play as one of the front three, but again this is a position with far too much talent and not enough room to accommodate it.

All this being said, both Rafferty and Davison are very useful players to use when needing to switch the balance of the team – against a lesser team Davison would be an excellent choice at wingback to overload the opposition, whereas Rafferty could help shore up the defence in a game where they’re going to be under considerable pressure.

Middle of the park

Similarly to the wingback problem, all four (arguably five) of Chelsea’s centre midfield options offer very different skillsets.

Katie Chapman is your typical destructive, defensive-minded centre mid, and as captain it seems unlikely that she’ll see too much time on the bench – but that being said, with plenty of midweek action and squad depth, as an older player she’ll have to spend time recovering. Millie Bright will probably be used as a defender but if deployed in midfield she will do a similar job to Chapman, although she offers better long-range passing than the skipper.

In Karen Carney and Ji So-yun you have two players who thrive in the traditional #10 position – something which doesn’t really fit in the 3-4-3. Against weaker opposition it could work well to have one of these players in the middle of the four alongside another player protecting the defence on their own, but this won’t be enough against the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City. Both of these two can also play as part of the front three, although this would restrict their ability to pass the ball around and create opportunities – which is the greatest trait of both players.

For me our best option at central midfield is Maren Mjelde. She proved herself as one of the classiest players in the league during Spring Series and is also our only option who is comfortable in attack and defence in equal measure. She’s more than capable in defence but her ability is wasted there. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hayes build the team around Mjelde, partnering her with Chapman for defensive security, or Carney/Ji when she expects the team to dominate possession.

Goals goals goals – but from who?

Chelsea’s frontline had a blast in Spring Series, averaging four goals scored over the eight matches, and it’s not surprising when you look at the enormous amount of talent in their pool. The frontline is probably the element of the team that will give Hayes the biggest headache.

At the end of the Spring Series she took to rotating the forwards in two groups of three – Fran Kirby, Carney and Ji swapping with Ramona Bachmann, Erin Cuthbert, and Drew Spence – but this surely can’t be an effective tactic going forward. None of these six will be happy with only 50% playing time, and forming relationships with the midfield will be very difficult. And of course, Eni Aluko missed the end of the Spring Series through injury, and she will be pushing for starts this year.

I’m not going to dissect each player individually here because I believe that all seven (up to nine if you include Davison and Dunn as forwards rather than wingbacks) can give exceptional contributions and are worthy of a start. I suspect Spence will continue in her role as ‘super sub’ that she perfected in the early part of this year but besides that, there is no frontline combination that would surprise me; this will come down to Hayes’ personal preference, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the respective opposition’s backline.

Is the door closed for our youngsters?

With a squad of 21 players who are all fighting to be starters, it would be a surprise to see any of our current young players really break into the squad. This being said, the Development Squad is not short of talent, and Isabella Sibley travelling to Austria with the first team for preseason is a promising sign. Livvy Smith and Maddie Brant have also seen time in recent friendlies, and personally I would love to see the talents of Molly Pike and Kenni Thompson in particular make a matchday squad at some point this year. We’ve seen too many youngsters with big potential – Alessia Russo and Miri Taylor are the two names that spring to mind – slip through our fingers.

This being said, the majority of our current first team are signed to lengthy contracts and as long as Chelsea continues to be an attractive club for these international superstars the development of our youngsters will be secondary to the team’s wider success.

Conclusions

Conclusions? What conclusions? I’ve outlined the pros and cons of each player in the various positions, yet still it’s very difficult to know what the team’s lineup will be come the 24th when they face Bristol City at home in the league opener, and in matches going forward.

I would personally like to see something like this:

but this is one of an almost infinite number of possibilities. Regardless of the lineup, Chelsea should earn all three points against Bristol, and most teams this season. Seeing how Hayes balances the side will be interesting, but she will undoubtedly get the best out of them. Here’s to an exciting 2017/18…

Follow Hannah on twitter: @doublenutmegs

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