Chelsea: 5 Midfield Roles Nemanja Matić Could Play

2. Advanced Destroyer

This is a more unusual one and, in all honesty, highly unlikely to be deployed in reality. While this article has laid out Mati‡'s ability to intercept and drive the play from deep, it would be interesting to see what would happen were Mourinho to give him the option of plying his skills further up the field, closer to what is traditionally seen as the No.10 position. Pushing a more defensive-minded player into an attacking position has the potential benefit of breaking up counter-attacks early and creating chances against a defence struggling to adapt from losing the ball so high up the field. Didier Drogba used to do this to great effect, physically intimidating opposition centre-backs into playing hurried passes or taking a foolish extra touch. Mati‡ doesn't have Drogba's ability to take advantage of those chances by himself - although the fact he took second place in the FIFA Puskás Award for an outrageous volleyed goal last season shows he certainly has the technique if need be - but his aforementioned ability to play quick, incisive passes would open up opportunities for a more natural goalscorer like Hazard. The downside to this strategy would obviously mean the loss of a more offensively minded player in the No.10 role. Given Mourinho's preference for the energetic Oscar over Mata's more subtle playmaking, Mati‡ actually has many of the attributes to fill his boss' requirements quite ably while bringing some distinctly his own to the position. He may not be as nimble and quick as the Brazilian, but is not going to let anyone down when it comes to passing or reliable footwork. His height and strength are perfect for the responsibilities of a target man - holding up the play, providing a target for long passes, pushing centre-backs around, knocking the ball on to create attacking opportunities - while delegating goalscoring responsibilities to more able colleagues. In other words, he'd be like Emile Heskey but with TALENT. Can you imagine such a thing?!