I guess you can see why Chelsea tried to sign a striker late on after Liam Delap got injured. They failed with it and recalled Marc Guiu instead. They tried to stop Nicolas Jackson’s move but in the end didn’t want to because he was adamant he wasn’t staying.
Jackson for me is not a ‘proper 9’ anyway but also, can Marc Guiu be classed as that? I’m not sure he can be. As well as that, we know he is still quite a raw player and has a lot of developing to do. And Enzo Maresca has confessed that he does not see Joao Pedro as a proper 9 either. So essentially, we don’t have one, right?
And this is why Maresca’s latest comments concern me. We will face a lot of low blocks this season, but Maresca is essentially saying that he needs a proper 9 to face them? Right?
Enzo Maresca:
“When we face a deep block team, having a proper 9 and Joao [Pedro] in behind, in the way we played against West Ham with Joao and Liam [Delap], and how we started against Fulham with Joao and Liam, that is the perfect situation for Joao.”
Delap is out for around 10 weeks and then he will need to get match fit again. So we will be playing that long without a ‘proper 9’…. Hmmm.
Obviously you cannot predict injuries will happen, and it was unfortunate that it came very late in the window when Delap got injured and was incredibly hard to sign in at that stage. But surely they could have found something? A suitable profile for what Maresca wants to play against low blocks?
Delap is class but I’ve said from the off I see him better as a 10. He can provide a focal point, for sure, but he’s not a ‘proper 9’.
It’s a little concerning because we all know what we face in the Premier League and more often than not, that will be a low block. As Liverpool almost found out yesterday, even Burnley can smash and grab something with a stubborn low block.