Jorginho has redefined Chelsea’s style and identity

Jorginho has redefined Chelsea’s style of play and identity since arriving from Napoli this summer.

Jorginho has needed just three matches to redefine Chelsea’s identity in this season’s Premier League title race. The Blues made it nine points from three games by passing Newcastle off St James’ Park on Sunday.

They won 2-1 with a reinvented style of play based on the progressive principles of manager Maurizio Sarri. The Sarri tenets are a dominance of possession through efficiency allied with the imagination needed to exploit spaces between the lines.

It’s a mode of soccer easy on the eye, and one reliant on a playmaker with Jorginho’s attributes. Specifically, patience, guile, calm and vision.

The Italy international owned the ball as if it were sacred treasure against the Magpies. His careful and astute use of it yielded some awe-inspiring statistics:

https://twitter.com/Sporf/status/1033846654443704320

Jorginho only joined a Premier League club in July, but he is already matching some of the standout performances in the annals of the division:

Those he hasn’t matched, Jorginho has firmly in his sights:

The modern era has made soccer seem more complex than it actually is. For all the talk of tactical subtlety, transitions and gegenpressing, players make systems.

You can’t play a passing style without a pass-master in the middle. Jorginho fits the role as Chelsea’s paragon of possession like a glove.

Sarri knew as much when he paid £57 million to bring his star pupil over from former club Napoli.

Yet for all Jorginho’s core talents, his transformative effect on Chelsea owes as much to the way Sarri has built around him. The 59-year-old has wasted no time reshuffling the pack.

His most notable change has seen highly regarded destroyer N’Golo Kante leave the base of midfield. The World Cup winner with France has been shuttled into an ill-fitting role on the right side so Jorginho has the freedom to dictate from deep, where he’s most effective.

Sarri being willing to move a player as influential as Kante out of his favored position only underlines the importance he attaches to Jorginho’s role. The latter is justifying the concession by acting as the oil in the engine.

Jorginho is powering a team built to funnel the play and runners through the middle.

It represents a significant change for a club long used to winning in other ways during the Premier League era. Usually, the Blues captured titles by playing within themselves.

The process involved staying rugged defensively, making economic use of possession and striking ruthlessly on the break. Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Sarri’s predecessor Antonio Conte all won titles with this pragmatic formula.

Their teams were underpinned by combative players anchoring midfield. Claude Makelele, Michael Essien, Nemanja Matic and Kante each brought destructive instincts to bear.

Jorginho is the antithesis of these stalwarts. He’s not physically imposing enough to break up play. He’s no ball-winner but a ball-player.

This version of Chelsea defensive midfielder won’t stifle the opposition. Instead, he’ll frustrate opponents by keeping the ball away from them.

The desire to own the ball more than working to keep shape off it is essential in Sarri’s philosophy. But it only works with a player prepared to always show for a pass and offer his team-mates an easy target.

Jorginho has fulfilled his dual obligation, while also changing the way those around him play.

Under Conte, Chelsea’s wing-backs and forwards would have sprinted into the channels when the ball was in midfield. Their direct runs were made to catch teams cold on the break by ensuring as quick a transition as possible from defense to attack.

Yet Jorginho’s presence as a conduit to recycle possession has encouraged a more measured approach. Now wide players drift centrally to engage in pass-and-move combinations with Sarri’s midfield general.

It’s one reason why Chelsea have ditched Conte’s back five for a four-man defense. The change has allowed Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta more opportunities to join in passing through the middle.

Deploying one less center-back has also let Sarri put an extra central player in midfield. It means Jorginho has one more team-mate to aim for and can focus less of his energy on defensive duties.

Easing the defensive burden on Jorginho can help him avoid similar problems to those experienced by Granit Xhaka at Arsenal. The latter is another deep-lying midfielder defined more by his passing than tackling.

Yet Xhaka’s form has suffered as he’s been miscast as the supposed answer to the Gunners’ longstanding need for a destroyer. Having Kante and either Ross Barkley or Mateo Kovacic work around him means Jorginho should escape a similar fate.

A midfield trio also offers Chelsea greater options for exchanging positions. Whenever Kante or Mateo Kovacic moved wide against Newcastle, Pedro or Eden Hazard would drift into the middle and trade passes with Jorginho.

Constantly surrounding their best passer with options is how the Blues have enjoyed such staggering possession numbers so far this season.

It’s also why Sarri’s team and its redefined identity is level on points at the top with Liverpool.