Pochettino’s €237m problem - why Caicedo and Fernández are still underperforming at Chelsea

On Monday, Chelsea welcome an embattled Everton side to Stamford Bridge in the hope of finally putting together a decent run of form that could see Mauricio Pochettino’s side begin to dream about an end to the chaos that has engulfed the club on and off the pitch this season. Despite a 2-2 draw with Sheffield United last weekend, Chelsea remain unbeaten in their last five league games and have tasted defeat just twice in their last 10. As such, the London club sit just five points off Manchester United in sixth place. 

However, major issues remain in Pochettino’s team. And despite (or entirely because) the club spending €467 million on new players this season, the Argentine tactician is still struggling to wrestle control of an unwieldy squad of talented players. This is perhaps most obvious in the middle of the pitch, where Chelsea have been able to call upon the consistent attacking threat of Cole Palmer and Conor Gallagher for much of the season, but remain entirely unconvinced by the defensive pairing of Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo behind them. 

What’s gone wrong for Caicedo and Fernández this season?

Perhaps the most obvious issue with both players is that they have been shoehorned into specific and somewhat limiting midfield roles at Chelsea, despite being better all-round players at their previous clubs. This is certainly the case with Caicedo, who was obviously a defensively-focused player with Brighton last season, but was also an underrated cog in their attacking threat. For example, according to FbRef, Caicedo’s key passes (a pass that leads to a shot) have halved from 1.23 per 90 last season with Brighton to just 0.62 this time around. This is also the case with how often the player passes into the opposing penalty box, which has more or less halved as well from 1.00 per 90 at Brighton to just 0.54 per 90, as well as the player’s dribbles per game, which have also dropped from 1.09 to 0.50 per 90.

In other words, Caicedo has gone from being a multi-faceted player to a more one-dimensional one at Chelsea this season. And there’s no doubt that such changes in circumstances have impacted on the player’s defensive stats as well. For example, Caicedo’s tackles and interceptions per game have dropped by 18% this season but the proportion of tackles the player actually wins haven’t changed a huge amount. Instead, it’s more than likely that the Ecuador international simply isn’t allowed to get into positions that allow him to break up opposing attacks across the pitch, like he once did for Brighton. 

When it comes to Fernández, there’s a similar issue at play as to why Chelsea fans still aren’t seeing too many signs of the player the club once spent €121m to sign back in January of last year. The Argentine talent was clearly bought off the back of his performances for Benfica, but shot to international fame for his ability to be Argentina’s outstanding all-rounder in the heart of their World Cup winning midfield. In no uncertain terms, the 23-year-old player should be the ideal box-to-box talent for Chelsea this season, but that hasn’t exactly played out as well as Pochettino may have hoped. 

For example, in his final season at River Plate, Fernández averaged 0.40 non-penalty goals and assists per 90 minutes and more or less did the exact same in his half a season at Benfica, where he averaged 0.39 per 90. That number then dropped dramatically to just 0.12 per 90 in the second half of last season at Stamford Bridge. And, while it has risen slightly to 0.17 per 90 this season, it’s still nowhere near the levels Chelsea would be expecting of their most expensive signing ever. This may be down to the midfielder underperforming or simply being crowded out by the aforementioned pairing of Palmer and Gallagher - who are averaging 0.77 and 0.33 per 90 respectively this season - but either way it’s once again a case of Chelsea not getting the most out of one of their star midfielders. And perhaps why the club have struggled to live up to the remarkable sums of money that have been spent on this squad in the last 12 months.