Victor Moses - A different approach

Sitting in the stands on Saturday against Stoke, after seeing Roberto Di Matteo’s decision to play Hazard, Mata and Oscar from the start, you can imagine my excitement as I took my seat.

Chelsea fans had been calling out for all three to be given a start, especially after Oscar’s two goal haul against Juventus.

By half time the problem was clear that we needed natural width in order for these guys to flourish with the ball. Each of them loved to come inside and look for the opportunity to slide a pass through the defence or look for a flick or two here and there. If anything, we played into Stoke’s hands.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a fresh and exciting approach, and one that we can build on. We have to remember that we have only played five league games and it will take time for everyone to get used to each other.

The problem we had and will come up against time and time again, is the Stoke approach to the game. Two banks of four across the back line and through midfield and with the man playing in behind the striker dropping into the midfield to make it five, Chelsea found it hard to break down a defence and will continue to do so. Chelsea looked at times too narrow.

If anything, the game was crying out for Chelsea to get the ball wide more often, to open the play up and get at their full backs, forcing them backwards and to allow the likes of Mata, Hazard and Oscar to take advantage of the game becoming stretched.

Chelsea have never had fast-paced wingers down either side of our attack ever since the days of Arjen Robben and Damian Duff, but with Moses, have got an option down one side at least.

When he came on at the weekend, he literally changed the game. Stoke had a problem because they knew he would hug the touchline and when he had the ball at his feet, would run at their defence rather than looking for that amazing through ball first.

There were times when he got the better of the full back with ease, notably when he turned inside and found himself in space running at the heart of the Stoke defence.

Think about our goal for a second. BOTH our fullbacks had pushed forward. Cole started the attack down the left and carried on his run, Ivanovic had pushed forward down the opposite side so Moses stepped inside with the play. The ball came to Moses, who played it wide to Ivanovic, who in turn played it first time into Mata. The Spaniard flicked the ball through to Cole, who finished well to give the Blues a win!

Chelsea need width in the team, and tend to struggle without it. OK, granted that at times we created a couple of half chances or ones that their keeper dealt with. But apart from that, we were too narrow with our three “number tens” all looking to pick up the ball or make runs into the same area.

If you are a team that faces us, you must look at the starting eleven for us and think “we just have to keep it tight and narrow to make it difficult for Chelsea”. Imagine as we hopefully progress in the Champions League, just how difficult it could become to break teams down.

Victor Moses has given a different option to our attacking play with the two appearances he has made already. I understand that by starting Moses, you lose one of the other three, with Marko Marin still waiting in the wings, but we need natural width.

What do you people think? Am I way off here or is what I am talking about making some sort of sense?

KTBFFH.