Chelsea‘s domestic campaign has come to an end after they finished sixth in the league table – their worst ever after Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has taken over in 2003. They have gone through many ups and downs, after Chelsea changed their manager in the middle of the season yet again. Despite all the turbulence at the Bridge, they stand at the door step of Champions league glory. Chelsea are in the finals of UEFA Champions league, which is arguably the biggest game in their history.
Despite the disappointments, Chelsea have many positives to take from this season. One of the biggest positives is the growth of Ramires as a complete player. The Brazilian has shown some promise playing for Benfica F.C, but was more of a raw talent rather than a force to reckon with. Even in his first season at Chelsea, he didn’t appear to justify his 22 million price tag. But he was a changed man under Andre Villas Boas in the first half of season, and Ramires took his game to another level under Roberto De Matteo.
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Irrespective of what happens at Munich, Chelsea are set to make huge changes to their squad this summer. Chelsea look to sign some potentially big stars like Eden Hazard, Hulk, Lucas Moura and welcome back a few on-loan players like Kevin De Bruyne, Gael Kakuta. So what does future hold for the Blue Kenyan? Although he plays as a midfielder for Brazil, Ramires is a highly versatile player – arguably one of the world’s best in that regard. For the sake of simplicity, let’s look at his play under AVB and De Matteo separately.
Although AVB was a big fan of 4-2-3-1, he used it as his Wild Card and started with an attacking 4-3-3 for most part of his tenure. The reason for this might be a compromise with Chelsea’s existing playing style. Ramires played as a midfielder in the 2nd line of attack, but used to make some extremely important runs into the box using his pace. Even when AVB changed the formation to 4-2-3-1 in the latter stages of match, he would be used as a double pivot – staying deep and driving the attack forward. With Sturridge performing really well as Right winger, AVB didn’t need to look for other options. But the problem with Sturridge is he doesn’t track back and is a liability defensively. Same case with Mata who was playing on Left flank. This meant both full backs were overloaded and were leaking goals. This was the main reason for not playing them in their usual positions in 4-2-3-1.
Ironically, Roberto De Matteo has never used 4-3-3 except for the two ties against Barcelona, but they were more of defensive 4-5-1. And to cover for the RB, he had to drop Sturridge almost completely from the starting eleven. Ramires started a new chapter in his career as a Right Winger. He has been used on right wing, although he did play as left winger whenever situation demanded (second leg against Napoli). He has been used as Right Back as well when the team were short on defenders ( second leg against Barcelona). Summarizing this up, Ramires played as RB, LW, RW and holding midfielder this season!
Although Ramires has performed really well on the wings, he isn’t a traditional winger who uses width and cuts in or crosses the ball into the box. His main asset is pace and he uses it to great extent to take on defenders. He is also a good dribbler of the ball. But he isn’t a holding midfielder and can’t play effectively as a pivot. I think he can be a great player, if he is used in the midfield in 4-4-2 or Brazilian 4-2-2-2. He can also play as a Right Back similar to Maicon, but that would displease the purists who have been in awe with him ever since his subtle chip at Nou Camp. With the aforementioned stars set to play major role in Chelsea’s campaign next season, Ramires may not be an attacking threat as he was this season. That said, it would all depend on the new manager and his systems.
