- 2 months ago
Man City have signed Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea in a deal that equals the British transfer record of £125m. This takes Man City's spending on a 'new look midfield' to over £300m, but will this propel them to a serious title challenge this season?Adam Clery takes a look at how the Argentine will need to be platformed within City's midfield, as well as the strengths and quite concerning weaknesses in Fernandez's game, that could make or break this deal.
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00:00Right, hello everybody, welcome to the Adam Cleary Football Channel, where the British transfer record has been broken, I think,
00:08because Enzo Fernandes has gone to Manchester City, and now everybody is wondering, can this team, with all its options
00:15and all its depth, actually challenge for the Premier League?
00:19Is Enzo Fernandes the final piece in a midfield jigsaw rebuild that costs the same as, like, a small hospital?
00:31Okay, so just quickly before we start, why am I dressed like a university drug dealer? I've got to go
00:37for a run, it's the peak of my training run, I have to go do 15 kilometres immediately after I
00:42do this, and I'll explain more about why I'm doing that, look, quick, charity, link, description, etc.
00:47But second of all, I must also confess, I don't really get Enzo Fernandes. Like, I think he's in the
00:54very top bracket of midfielders. Some of the things you see him do with his passing range, his late box
01:00-crashing runs, he's got moments on his CV that only the best players in the world could possibly have, and
01:07yet, me personally, I do struggle with him.
01:12I would say he's been at the very heart of everything good about Chelsea in the last three years, but
01:17also at the heart of most of the bad stuff as well.
01:21So we're going to look at all of that stuff, right, but I just want to start, as you should
01:25do in life, with the positives.
01:27I'll just start with his heatmap from last season, right, he tends to sit in that sort of deep number
01:31six position, and when he's used right, you can tell from his heatmap that he gets a lot of ground
01:36coverage,
01:37and he uses that mobility to be a ball progression machine. These are a selection of his numbers from last
01:43season, and they're all really, really strong.
01:45Like, he clearly sees a lot of the ball, his passing is very accurate, the expected assists versus actual assists
01:51show you that his teammates do let him down occasionally with his finishing.
01:55He should have a lot more of those, we'll talk about that later on as well.
01:58But the main one to note is this, there is virtually no midfielder in the Premier League better than him
02:05at line-breaking passes.
02:07And that is truly, honestly, maybe the most valuable asset to have if you are playing in the middle of
02:13the park for a team who sees a lot of the ball,
02:17like, for example, Enzo Mareska's Chelsea, and for another example, Enzo Mareska's Man City.
02:23Whether the opposition press you or sit in a low block, your value on the ball in these positions is
02:29entirely determined by your ability to move it between the lines of defence.
02:34And there's a number of different ways to do that, like, some players will isolate a defender 1v1, beat them
02:40with a bit of skill, get through that way.
02:42Others will just run the ball into open spaces, carrying it up the field like that.
02:47But the most controlled way to do it, and therefore the most valuable way for teams who have a lot
02:53of possession, is by just passing it.
02:55And just to go off on a little tangent here, the reason that is the preferred way for teams like
03:00this,
03:00is because if you run it, you've committed to doing that and can't really change your mind.
03:04And if you lose it, you are now the wrong side of the ball and maybe even on your arse.
03:10Whereas if you pass it, you actually can change your mind at the very last second.
03:14And even if you do lose it, you're still goal side anyway.
03:18Now, under Maresca and then Rossini, which, wow, remember that, Fernandes was used in a number of different ways.
03:25But fundamentally, regardless of the setup, Chelsea wanted to end up from this starting position into this attacking shape.
03:34You would have a central focal point here, the width coming from both the wide forwards like this,
03:39a defender inverting into midfield, and then Fernandes and Parma in this sort of left and right, dual number 10
03:45role,
03:46where they have a lot of freedom to drop into other spaces to get on the ball and make things
03:50happen.
03:51And the reason Fernandes is more important to this structure than Parma is,
03:55is because not only would he go and drop all the way into the pivot to find space in the
03:59midfield,
04:00if indeed he needed it, but he would also drop all the way into the back line,
04:04if that's where the opportunities were as well.
04:07Like here, they've got Newcastle penned all the way in, so theoretically, he should be over here somewhere,
04:13where Cucurea is, but he's dropped all the way over here to get on the ball.
04:18And Newcastle, obviously, don't put a lot of pressure on him,
04:20because he's absolutely not the responsibility of either of these two players.
04:26And that's all well and good being able to find that space, but what can he do with it?
04:30Well, he knows that Botman wants to be really aggressive with Parma,
04:33so he waits for him to drop, pulls the defender out of the way,
04:36and then DeLapp runs off into the space,
04:39and he threads the ball through every single line of Newcastle's low block.
04:44And that is him leaving the final third in order to then create in the final third.
04:51And then here, this is him basically asking for the ball off the goalkeeper,
04:54because he is better at receiving under pressure than the rest of Chelsea's midfield options.
04:59He draws that pressure towards him, it frees up space for his teammates,
05:03and then he releases them up the pitch.
05:06And that he does this kind of stuff at all is genuinely really impressive,
05:10but the fact he does it consistently in almost every single game,
05:14and these aren't just selective highlights I've found,
05:17this is pretty much exactly how he plays,
05:19tells you that he is at an elite level for midfielders in world football on the ball.
05:26And then when he actually is around the box,
05:29his vision, his weight of pass, his angle of cross, his timing, everything,
05:33that's all at the very top level as well.
05:36Like this next thing I'm going to show you is not an assist,
05:38but it is stuck in my head pretty much all season.
05:42Because even just to spot Gusto here is one thing,
05:45but look at the arc on this ball over the top.
05:48It isn't just a good pass,
05:50he scoops it into the air with backspin,
05:53so that when it lands, it doesn't skid away.
05:57It pretty much stops dead for the pass.
06:00Like Gusto, that is, doesn't even need to control that ball in the opposition's box.
06:04He is able to cross it with his first touch,
06:07and that is all to do with the quality of the delivery
06:10that very few players are capable of doing.
06:13And like I said before,
06:14if he had been with better finishers last season,
06:16or even just better players,
06:17so many of these chances and these opportunities
06:20would have been assists for him.
06:23So yes, great player Enzo Fernandes.
06:26I've got absolutely no question about that, right?
06:28But last season, something in him changed.
06:32Fernandes went on the best scoring run of his entire career
06:36and got more league goals than he had in the previous two seasons combined.
06:41And if you go and you watch those goals back, right,
06:44they are almost universally all just box-crashing,
06:49back-post tap-ins where he reads across really well
06:53and then steals in late to score with one touch.
06:56It started in the Conference League final
06:58where he pops up here with the equaliser
07:01and then he gets one in the Club World Cup.
07:03And then there's their first win of the season
07:05against West Ham,
07:07then against Brighton,
07:08again against Burnley,
07:09again against Man City,
07:11again against West Ham United,
07:13PSG and Leeds in the FA Cup.
07:16And Opta,
07:17thank you Opta,
07:18very neatly,
07:19I'll move them out of the way,
07:20made this graph, right,
07:21that shows you all of those box-crashing runs
07:25he made last season
07:26that either led to a chance on goal,
07:29those are the ones in grey,
07:30or an actual goal itself,
07:32those are the ones in green.
07:34And you can see,
07:35not only is he making this run
07:37every single time the ball goes wide,
07:39but he's also reassessing his angle
07:42to make sure he comes in
07:44at the back post.
07:45Like,
07:46this is a really even spread
07:47of left versus right,
07:48which obviously he plays on that side,
07:50so you'd expect it to be a lot more weighted,
07:52but if the ball is out there,
07:54he makes sure he arrives
07:56from the opposite angle,
07:57on the defender's blind side.
07:59It's very clever.
07:59But indeed,
08:00the key thing to note
08:01about this little graph here,
08:03right,
08:03is that this is the fourth highest number
08:05in the Premier League
08:07for this type of run into the box.
08:09And the three players above him
08:11are all centre-forwards,
08:14given he played most of the season
08:16as a pivot.
08:17Sometimes a 10, yes,
08:17but mostly as a deep midfielder.
08:21That's interesting,
08:23isn't it?
08:23And just,
08:24I know what you're thinking,
08:25this all sounds universally positive,
08:27so why then,
08:29Adam,
08:30did you say at the start of the video
08:31that you struggle with him
08:32as a player?
08:34And it comes down to this,
08:37right?
08:38This is the profile
08:40and the stat line
08:41and just the ability
08:42of an incredibly talented footballer.
08:45And yet,
08:46in the entire time
08:47he's been at Chelsea,
08:48they have never seriously
08:51challenged for the league.
08:52Now,
08:52they did have one
08:54really good run
08:55under Mareska,
08:56where in the middle of December,
08:58they were second in the league,
09:00they were only three points
09:00behind Liverpool,
09:01they'd scored more gold,
09:02they looked really good,
09:03and Fernandes
09:04was on fire.
09:06He had like
09:07three goals
09:08and four assists
09:09in his last six games,
09:11he was wearing the armband,
09:12it was going really well,
09:13and then
09:14it just fell apart.
09:16One win
09:16in the next seven
09:17and that is the one game
09:19Fernandes misses
09:19and this has been pretty typical
09:21of his time
09:22at the club.
09:24They have always been capable
09:25of putting really impressive runs together
09:27and then the wheels just fall off.
09:30And just before I say
09:31what I'm about to say,
09:32right,
09:33yes,
09:34there are a hundred
09:35other reasons
09:36for this,
09:37right,
09:37the managers they've had,
09:38the systems they've used,
09:39the injuries they've got,
09:40the fixture pile of,
09:41all the other players
09:42in this team
09:43that all contributes,
09:45I agree with you,
09:46but when
09:47the heartbeat
09:48of your side,
09:49the man who is vital
09:50for you
09:51in every single
09:52phase of play
09:53is also
09:54your captain
09:55and is also
09:56one of the most
09:57expensive players
09:58in the world,
09:58you have to scrutinise
10:00their role
10:02in your form
10:03and I think when you do
10:04it throws up a number
10:06of things
10:06for me personally
10:08that I would find
10:09concerning.
10:10And it's mainly
10:11that without the ball
10:12Fernandes can routinely
10:14offer you
10:15very little.
10:16His defensive numbers
10:17and these are the last
10:18two seasons
10:18actually improved
10:20a bit last year
10:21but are still
10:22nowhere near
10:23the level of
10:24off-the-ball work
10:25a central midfielder
10:26at this level
10:27needs to have.
10:29Like just to pull out
10:30the contribution
10:30from the season
10:31we were just talking about
10:32where they started well
10:33and then fell away,
10:35if that is in the centre
10:36of the pitch for you,
10:37you can see why
10:38teams started
10:39to find Chelsea
10:40quite easy to get at
10:42especially in that
10:43part of the pitch.
10:44If one of your pivots
10:45is running around
10:45doing this
10:46then it puts an enormous
10:47amount of pressure
10:48on the guy next to him
10:49to basically do
10:51the work of two players.
10:52And again,
10:52just to swap that out
10:53with this season's numbers,
10:54it is trending upwards.
10:56You would find that
10:57an encouraging sign
10:58if you're the team
10:59that's buying him
11:00but the one thing
11:00that doesn't really change
11:01and is unforgivable
11:04is that one,
11:05that one there.
11:06How easily players
11:08find him
11:08to beat on a dribble.
11:10Even if you are not
11:11the greatest ball winner,
11:12the one thing
11:13you can't let happen
11:14is getting dribbled
11:15around or passed
11:17that easily
11:17and Fernandes
11:18has become
11:19one of the softest
11:20touches in the league
11:21if you can get him
11:23isolated.
11:24And look,
11:25whether you want
11:25to put that down
11:26to a lack of technique
11:27which isn't really his fault
11:28or a lack of effort
11:29which would be,
11:30that is entirely up to you.
11:32But the fact is
11:32when Chelsea have to sit in
11:34and they have to lock in
11:35and they have to be solid,
11:36he is a vulnerability
11:38for them.
11:38And likewise,
11:39for the amount of ground
11:40he covers getting on the ball,
11:42his running numbers
11:43are a real red flag.
11:46Like, okay,
11:46he's not the quickest,
11:47that's not his fault,
11:48you either are quick
11:49or you're not.
11:50But the number of sprints
11:51there being in the bottom
11:5220% of midfielders
11:54in the Premier League
11:55for the amount you sprint
11:56and how far you sprint,
11:58there's not really
11:59any excuse for that.
12:00There are players
12:00who are worse than Fernandes,
12:02who are slower than Fernandes,
12:03who do a lot better
12:05in that regard.
12:06And all you're doing there
12:07when not sprinting
12:08when you need to
12:09is putting even more
12:11responsibility
12:11on the guy next to you
12:13when naturally
12:14your mistakes
12:15are going to happen.
12:16And don't get me wrong,
12:17there are games,
12:18indeed entire stretches
12:19of the season
12:20where what he is offering you
12:21on the ball
12:22more than makes up
12:24for what he is not
12:25offering you
12:26offered.
12:26But that is pretty much
12:27the reason.
12:28One of the main reasons
12:29I think
12:30why Chelsea were so good
12:32in patches
12:32and so bad in others.
12:34They could never
12:35find consistency.
12:36Just the reality
12:37of modern football
12:38is you cannot be amazing
12:39going forward
12:41every single game.
12:42So when those games
12:43come along
12:44for whatever reason
12:45you're not doing
12:46enough of the basics
12:47to allow somebody else
12:49to go and win
12:50the game for you.
12:51And just as like
12:52a small final point here
12:54and this isn't
12:54analytical at all
12:55this is just me
12:56thinking out loud
12:57to humour me
12:58on this one.
12:59Chelsea's issue
13:00this summer
13:01I've tried to address
13:02has been a cultural one.
13:03The standards
13:04that are being set
13:05behind the scenes
13:06the blend
13:07and the vibe
13:07in the changing room
13:09and I think your captain
13:10should always be
13:11a major part
13:12of trying to make sure
13:14that's as good
13:14as it can be.
13:16So for Chelsea
13:16to let him go
13:18on deadline day
13:19without really
13:20lining up a replacement
13:22there's just
13:23an alarm bell ringing
13:25for me there
13:26in this big upheaval
13:28of the culture
13:28of the club
13:30they've let him go.
13:31So what does that say
13:33about his role in it?
13:34And just to caveat
13:35everything I've said there
13:36one
13:37Enzo Moresca
13:38maybe knows him better
13:39than any other manager
13:40on the planet
13:40and he's clearly
13:41very happy
13:42with his contributions
13:43two
13:43if you did need
13:44somebody to go
13:45and do all
13:46of the off-the-ball
13:47dog work
13:48to allow your
13:49creative maverick
13:50to flourish
13:50Elliot Anderson's
13:52maybe the best player
13:52in the world
13:53you could possibly
13:54have gone on board
13:55and three
13:55they've got
13:56Buardi as well
13:57who was so good
13:58in the early build-up stages
14:00it reduces the need
14:01for Fernandes
14:02to be there
14:03he can play a lot
14:03higher up
14:04and thus relieves him
14:05of the defensive work
14:06he quite often
14:08struggles with.
14:08So the point
14:09I'm trying to make
14:09is that if you use him
14:10correctly
14:11and you have
14:12players around him
14:12willing to pick up
14:13the slack
14:14he is absolutely
14:15worth every
14:16single penny
14:17but if you don't
14:18use him right
14:18and you put too
14:19much responsibility
14:20on him
14:21either as a
14:21teammate or a
14:22leader
14:23he is a net
14:24negative
14:25for your team
14:26so
14:27over to you
14:28Enzo
14:29and yes
14:30just before I go
14:30to address the
14:31whole knees
14:32out on camera
14:32tracksuit situation
14:33I am really that
14:34pale
14:34this is my big
14:35training run
14:36today
14:36I have to run
14:3715km in the
14:38rain
14:38because the
14:39Great North Run
14:40is in 10 or
14:4111 days
14:42or something like
14:42that
14:42and we are
14:43trying to raise
14:43as much money
14:44as we can
14:44for Mind
14:45who are a
14:45mental health
14:46charity
14:46here in the
14:47UK
14:47if you've ever
14:48needed mental
14:48health services
14:49in this or
14:50any other country
14:50you will know
14:51how underfunded
14:52they are
14:52and how important
14:53the role of
14:54charities like Mind
14:55is in supporting
14:57people and picking
14:57up the slack
14:58and providing
14:59absolutely vital
15:00care
15:01so I just love
15:02the fact the
15:02lights have gone
15:03off because we're
15:03leaving
15:03that I'm doing
15:04this for them
15:06any donations
15:07big or small
15:08are great
15:09they make that
15:09money go so
15:10much further
15:10than you would
15:11ever possibly
15:12believe
15:12the link is in
15:13the description
15:13down below
15:14you can get me
15:14across all the
15:15social medias
15:15at Adam Cleary
15:16C-L-E-R-Y
15:17I'm looking forward
15:18to seeing Man City
15:18I think they're
15:19going to be a lot
15:20of fun
15:21and that's it
15:22subscribe to the
15:23channel if you
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15:24thanks
15:25bye
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