Analysis of Joao Felix’s debut for Chelsea
Full of pros and cons.
Craven Cottage was dark, gloomy and pouring rain when it welcomed Graham Potter’s regressing Chelsea to play versus Marco Silva’s red-hot Fulham. It was as if the environment itself knew of the consistent shortcomings, disappointment and blown money that the Blues were experiencing. Potter made bold decisions for his starting XI; preferring a formation with 3 in the back, which employed Trevor Chalobah, as well as the shocking inclusion of Lewis Hall at left wing-back over the multi-million-dollar Marc Cucurella. Most surprisingly though, Joao Felix was already in the lineup after having only arrived on loan a few days ago from Atletico Madrid. For an otherwise dreadful performance from Chelsea’s back-line, particularly the aforementioned Chalobah, Felix offered the dimmest, but still apparent, source of hope for the rest of the campaign.
After the various signings and lucrative spending on summer and winter transfers by rookie owner Todd Boehly, as well as the short-sighted sacking of Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea have had no identity. A defense where two of their best defenders and players (Reece James and Ben Chilwell) are injured and more offensively-minded, a monotonous midfield that lacks creativity since Mason Mount has basically become a winger and an attack that cannot score no matter who they slot in at the front. Even though Felix did not score today, he definitely showed more effort and hunger to do so than any of the squad’s freshmen. Understandably though, this led to certain miscalculations, as well as occasional tactical discomfort that can likely be attributed to his scarce opportunities to prepare for this match.
Felix was constantly anticipating the ball. He made aggressive runs forward into space, and although he was often disconnected from the team, in terms of style and literal location, that allowed him to find openings to dribble without much collusion from his own peers. This meant that sometimes he would carry the ball up aimlessly, but the mere threat of his pace and capability to independently create his own chances through shifty movements caused Fulham’s defenders to take immediate notice. This led to a multitude of fouls on Felix, including the fact that two of them drew yellow-cards early on. It was clear that years of Diego Simeone’s meticulous offense took a toll on the young forward because he constantly seemed antsy, before, during and after possession. Felix attempted numerous half-spins and other jukes in order to shake off the players marking him before he even received the ball which led to turnovers that could have easily been prevented by simple patience. This lack of composure was evident in some of his shot choices, as he turned up several opportunities to slow down play and wait for his teammates to catch up for low-quality shots that were misses before they even left his feet.
Potter seems keen on deploying Felix as a true second-striker to assist Kai Havertz with converting potential offensively threatening moments. This intention was more than evident in Felix’s absence of defensive prowess; pressure was few and far between and he rarely returned into Chelsea’s own third during Fulham’s attacks. Obviously, it is not necessary for Felix to be a stalwart on defense, but again, the way he was playing was not consistent with how Potter normally orchestrates his squad, so until the coach makes general changes to overall tactics, he needs to figure out how to improve cohesion. This may be an irrationally harsh sentiment considering it was Felix’s debut, but Potter is reportedly already on the hot seat, which isn’t helped by today’s loss, so urgency is of the essence.
Felix had energy when he was on the ball and that is something that cannot be said about most of Chelsea’s XI. He was constantly looking for open areas of the pitch to infiltrate with either a progressive pass or run; this is so infrequent for Chelsea players nowadays that one of Felix’s most dangerous runs was blatantly unnoticed or ignored by Havertz at the beginning of the second half.
Felix’s anticipation and first touch were easily the highlights of his performance. The Portuguese forward often launched shots or passes that were clearly calculated before he had control of the play, and that kind of creative foresight is, again, something that Chelsea has lacked. Unfortunately though, Felix’s aggressive and sometimes reckless gameplay appeared in the worst way possible when he foolishly tackled Kenny Tete by absolutely decimating his shins. Whether it was fueled by frustration or excitement, 10 men on the field never bodes well for any squad, and that was evident when Fulham took the lead 15 minutes afterwards.
It is easy to be critical of any Chelsea player during such an underwhelming season, but Felix exhibited attributes in his debut that showed clear signs of ambition that should be appreciated in the midst of a solid display cut short by his own mistake.
