Conor Gallagher faces big test to prove he’s not the wrong midfielder at the wrong time for Chelsea
Given a deeper berth that called for more positional discipline, Gallagher seemed to be doubting himself at times. He was hesitant, dispossessed when Jack Harrison had Leeds’ first shot, again by Dan James a few minutes later, but he is accustomed to being the hunter, not the hunted. When he strayed from station in front of the back three, Chelsea looked stretched.
He was alongside Jorginho, but he is the anti-Jorginho; more runner than regista, a less precise and less prolific passer. Opposites did not attract in a partnership. Last season, albeit in an inferior team, Gallagher averaged 30 passes per league game, Jorginho 64. On Sunday, when he had the chance to release Kai Havertz on the counter-attack, he over-hit his pass. It was an isolated incident but Tuchel appreciates a clinical streak and control.
His three definitive central midfielders, in Jorginho, Kante and Kovacic, all completed at least 87 percent of their passes last season.
The Englishman had a different job description under Patrick Vieira, but the Gallagher role did not exist at Stamford Bridge. He could in effect mean Palace were playing with 12 men, as the third central midfielder in a 4-3-3 who then became the fourth attacker when they broke forward.
It gave him a ubiquity, of a blond mop flying up and down the pitch. He only had 43 touches when Palace won 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium last season but they included a goal and an assist, plus six tackles and two interceptions.
But Chelsea do not employ that kind of box-to-box player. Redeploying him further forward in the front three would take him into Mason Mount territory and, given Chelsea’s lack of goals, it would seem strange to take out more of a forward for someone who is essentially a midfielder.
He looks more of a No.8 for Jurgen Klopp than one of a Tuchel double six. But then at Chelsea, the greater licence to attack is given to the wing-backs than the central midfielders.
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As Gallagher’s time at Palace showed, he has the skill-set, the energy, enthusiasm, ability and eye for goal to suit at least half the Premier League, and certainly most teams who will have 50 percent of the ball or less.
Perhaps a former target of Marcelo Bielsa’s would be perfect for a high-energy, high-intensity side like Leeds. Instead, kindred spirits made Gallagher look decidedly uncomfortable. And if the debacle at Elland Road puts him at the back of the queue for places at Chelsea, a great advertisement for his style of football could nevertheless reinforce the impression he doesn’t fit Tuchel’s gameplan.
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