Mateo Kovacic

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Gabriel said:
If we start with

Akanji Dias Ake
Rodri Stones
Kovacic

I wouldn’t expect the front four to be doing much chasing back. The back three I’ve chosen based on the CL final.
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Pep certainly looks to be trying to create an even more secure—but still fluid—defence so that our forward players can attack with more freedom, likely to help combat some of the tactics we were seeing toward the end of the season, including the man “marking” of Erling.

With the exception of Ruben, every player in that ‘pyramid’ is good-to-great on the ball, with the midfield especially press resistant, which I think is one of Pep’s main focuses.

And Kovacic’s knack for progressive dribbling will be very helpful when trying to unlock low blocks (combined with our forwards’ exceptional movement and interchange).

I think it makes sense as a natural progression. We constantly have to evolve because every team puts the most effort in to developing tactics to disrupt our system (more than any other club right now). We often even have to do it mid season.
 
SebastianBlue said:
Pep certainly looks to be trying to create an even more secure—but still fluid—defence so that our forward players can attack with more freedom, likely to help combat some of the tactics we were seeing toward the end of the season, including the man “marking” of Erling.

With the exception of Ruben, every player in that ‘pyramid’ is good-to-great on the ball, with the midfield especially press resistant, which I think is one of Pep’s main focuses.

And Kovacic’s knack for progressive dribbling will be very helpful when trying to unlock low blocks (combined with our forwards’ exceptional movement and interchange).

I think it makes sense as a natural progression. We constantly have to evolve because every team puts the most effort in to developing tactics to disrupt our system (more than any other club right now). We often even have to do it mid season.
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I also think it will play to the strengths of some of the attacking players (Foden, Haaland, Grealish, Alvarez, McAtee, a.n.other), as we can afford to drop ten yards defensively and draw opponents out, which means those attackers can then use their speed more to penetrate, with Kovacic key to getting the ball to them faster. We will still be able to suffocate when required, but I expect us to go straight for the jugular more. Murderous intent…
 
Gabriel said:
I also think it will play to the strengths of some of the attacking players (Foden, Haaland, Grealish, Alvarez, McAtee, a.n.other), as we can afford to drop ten yards defensively and draw opponents out, which means those attackers can then use their speed more to penetrate, with Kovacic key to getting the ball to them faster. We will still be able to suffocate when required, but I expect us to go straight for the jugular more. Murderous intent…
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Isn't that the Dipper blueprint?
 
I think this set up is also aimed at putting less demands on KDB giving him and/or Phil more scope to room as a '10' with fewer defensive responsibilities.
 
Gabriel said:
Well they throw their fullbacks forward with gay abandon and gegenpressing is maybe too 100% for us so not quite. I‘m just suggesting being cute enough to draw the opponent out a little bit more, certainly domestically, and then pouncing.
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Trouble is most teams are now happy to just hold back in their own box, let us have all the possession in the world, and try to block the final product.
 
threadkiller said:
Trouble is most teams are now happy to just hold back in their own box, let us have all the possession in the world, and try to block the final product.
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Which is why we shouldn’t always seek to press them so far back that we end up restricting our own space. It has its moments, but if the midfield is younger and faster, it can play more ways. If we drop 5 yards, they’ll come up 5; if we drop 10, they’ll come up 10.
 
DenisLawBackHeel74 said:
Funnily enough, at the time we were apparently in for Rose and Walker, a spurs fan told me he thought Rose was the better player…….
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Rose probably was at the time.
Trippier was supposedly better too.
Walker has improved so much since he came to us, obviously under the guidance if Pep whilst Rose went the opposite way.
Its a bit like all those " great" centrebacks at Chelsea who were rated above Ake.
 
Gabriel said:
Which is why we shouldn’t always seek to press them so far back that we end up restricting our own space. It has its moments, but if the midfield is younger and faster, it can play more ways. If we drop 5 yards, they’ll come up 5; if we drop 10, they’ll come up 10.
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They don't though. We drop back 10 yards and they regroup and say 'OK, you're 10 yrds further back, now what are you gonna do?' teams are a lot more comfortable letting us have possession than they were at the start of the Pep project, and it shows - we don't really score 5/6 goals a game anymore.
 
IrishBlueSince92 said:
How creative is Kovacic?
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Here is what I know, that for me is all I need to know to get me 'excited' about this one.

- Pep wants him. Now, in 2023, at City.
- Pep wanted him in 2018, we were strongly linked with him before he moved from Real Madrid to Chelsea
- Pep wanted him in 2014 at Bayern, when Kovacic was at Inter, before he eventually moved to Real Madrid.
- It is a position Pep knows pretty damn well and the one position he rarely gets wrong. He seems very much a Pep type player, if nothing else by the documented long standing interest.

Not sure what 'creative' covers and if it a metric that can apply to him, but he is no dumb brute. He is a highly technical player with decent vision and footballing intellect. From what I've seen, which in fairness has been more at the world cups than for Chelsea.
 
Chi-town blues said:
Stats are cute but no one can come close to mr whippy. He is a hybrid of xavi/ lampard/David Silva.Some of his spins and turns reminds me of David. Huge miss and irreplaceable.
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Just like the much better David Silva, he was also irreplaceable, right?
 
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