Chelsea: 5 Midfield Roles Nemanja Matić Could Play

5. Holding Midfielder

The 4-2-3-1 formation favoured by Mourinho during the first half of the season will almost certainly continue to be the team's default shape going forward, which means Mati‡ will most likely be one of the two responsible for holding down the central midfield area and providing a solid base for Willian, Oscar and Hazard (and in an ideal world, Mata, but I think we all sadly know how that's going to end...) to bomb forward. In this formation, Mati‡'s natural role would be to play deeper, protecting the back four and allowing his partner - in this case, Lampard would seem most suitable - to instigate the transitions between defensive and attacking movements. This is a role which would previously have been occupied by John Obi Mikel, but his lack of pace and agility make a midfield pairing with Lampard something of a liability, at risk of being overrun by faster, more versatile opponents. Mikel has been a reliable performer for Chelsea since his arrival in 2006, an underrated figure in providing stability and discipline among more offensive minded compatriots. That said, if Mati‡ can continue his Benfica form in a Blue shirt, there's no doubt he'll be an upgrade in every respect. Both have similar numbers in terms of pass completion, tackles and interceptions, but where Mikel's lack of forward thinking slows the game down after breaking up an attack - a useful talent in high pressure matches - Mati‡ has the ability to play the passes to instigate a rapid counter-attack, forcing opponents on the back foot. Mikel's passing success rate is slightly higher than that for Mati‡, though this is misleading: Mati‡ has the vision to play more offensive passes where Mikel would seek to preserve possession above all else. In other words, Mati‡ offers a similar rate of passing success while posing a significantly greater counter-attacking threat to the opposition. That ability is what makes his partnership with Lampard more viable: opponents can push forward against Mikel knowing that the risk of a quick break is minimised by the Nigerian's safety-first approach. Mati‡ offers the same defensive stability while forcing the opposition to hold back for fear of momentum turning against them in an instant, cancelling out his and Lampard's lack of pace.