Chelsea have been the surprise package of the year let alone the season. For a team that was riddled with lingering issues since Maurizio Sarri took over, they have come a long way in banishing the memories of a few months ago. Frank Lampard has overseen an unlikely change in such a short space of time with Chelsea emerging as surprise contenders for a top-four position. Not only has he overseen impressive wins away to Ajax and grinding out victories against the likes of Newcastle and Burnley.
However, the biggest take away from this has been Lampard’s use of Chelsea’s youth Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori, and Reece James have all come in and performed exceptionally well. Each one of them has established themselves as regular first-team members and look like they belong in the Premier League. The famous Chelsea loan system is finally reaping its rewards.
Amidst the youthful revolution, Lampard hasn’t forgotten the need for experience and has perfectly blended youth with experience. César Azpilicueta and Willian have been stalwarts in attack and defence, however, Jorginho has arguably been the biggest beneficiary of the Lampard era. The Brazilian-born Italian midfielder has become a phenomenon this season becoming arguably the most improved player and finally becoming the player we expected him to be. His comeback has become one of the most talked about stories this season.
This tactical analysis scout report will use analysis to detail and understand how Jorginho’s role has changed across 2019 from Sarri’s leadership to his transformation under Lampard.
Napoli’s Jorginho
Jorginho’s initial rise to fame came from his stint at Napoli under Sarri as the team’s designated deep-lying playmaker. A core fundamental cog in their system, Jorginho was tasked with supplying Napoli’s dynamic forwards passes into the final third. Sarri used Brazilian-born Italian as the side’s main creative outlet and offered both centre-backs a passing option. They operated in a 4-3-3 formation with Jorginho playing at the base of the midfield three. Napoli press aggressively and look to cut opposition passing lanes and also hold a high defensive line to assist this.
Jorginho was the fulcrum of the team and linked defence, midfield and the attack together. Possession would progress from the goalkeeper through to Jorginho then into the final third. The defenders would form several passing triangles with Jorginho and need to be extremely comfortable in possession. When teams look to press high, the centre-backs would break the lines themselves not always relying on Jorginho as the main passing option. This would also trigger the opposition midfielders to press higher allowing space in behind enabling Jorginho to freely find space and look for attacking passing options higher up the pitch. In essence, Jorginho was the side’s main link, creator, and tempo dictator, looking to orchestrate Napoli’s attacking moves from a deeper position.
The movement of the front men creates this space and allows Jorginho room to send inch-perfect passes to the front three. They predicated themselves on stationing themselves within the half-spaces and attack through there. Playing quick, short passing triangles with Jorginho in midfield would allow space to be created and passes to be made where the likes of Marek Hamšík and Lorenzo Insigne could profit.
The main take away from this is the intelligent movement of Napoli’s attackers who understood Sarri’s tactics and allowed Jorginho to thrive in his role. Even if opposition teams pressed Jorginho there would always be a passing option for him to recycle the ball. Having progressive, competent ball-playing centre-backs behind him also alleviated pressure off him in the build-up phase. At Napoli, he averaged 102.71 passes and 7.16 long passes per 90 indicating his importance and how frequently he was used as the team’s creative outlet going forward.
Now that
