Looking at the 2020/21 Premier League this season is a bit odd. The match went on without spectators, the results were shocking, and a line of old players were increasingly eliminated from the first team. Oddest it might be to see Cesar Azpilicueta on the Chelsea bench.
Azpilicueta’s position in the first team began to be replaced by a young talent, Reece James. The defender who was born in Pamplona, Spain, has only started 5 times in the 2020/21 Premier League and has 2 appearances as a substitute.
This is certainly in contrast to the record of 5 previous seasons (at least 36 games in the Premier League) or last season where he became the player with the most minutes played in the Chelsea squad (4,310 minutes in all competitions). Even more impressive, from August 2015 to May 2019, Azpilicueta only missed 2 times out of a total of 152 Premier League matches.
But now, Azpilicueta remains an important figure for Chelsea when he gets the chance to play. Although Frank Lampard’s confidence has declined, the defender who has been with the Blues since 2012 is still reliable.
Reece James started 12 times, having a 50% record of successful tackles from 32 attempts. Azpilicueta has the same tackling success rate. However, when he pressed the opponent, Azpilicueta was better. When calculating the percentage of success for a team pressing for 5 seconds, Azpilicueta’s success rate reached 30.1%, while Reece James was only 28%.
When Azpilicueta appeared, Chelsea had never lost (3 wins, 4 draws). Chelsea scored 14 goals and averaged 1.86 points when the Spanish defender played. This compares to the 20 goals scored when James was on the field and Chelsea’s average points were just 1.46.
Azpilicueta is expected to start again when Chelsea is facing Fulham on Sunday. The reason is, Frank Lampard had made statement that Reece James will be absent because of a knee injury. “I do have more playing minutes in the Champions League but not in the Premier League. I don’t think I have contributed since playing at Old Trafford (gameweek 6), “said Azpilicueta on the club’s official website.
“It’s been my job for a long time to work hard and improve every day, when the coach needs me to perform, I will do my best. To win is the most important thing, “he said.
The Chelsea’s Icon
In the current Chelsea squad, Azpilicueta is the only player who was Frank Lampard’s teammate. Naturally, if Lampard gave Azpilicueta the armband responsibility. “He’s a symbol of the club. He’s a player the fans look at and say ‘this is how we feel about Chelsea’. That’s why he became captain, “said Lampard.
His first challenge as team captain was the retirement of the Premier League in March last year due to the pandemic. Chelsea is a club that is proactive in providing assistance to its community and no player at the club has had as much share as Azpilicueta.
Personally, the 178 cm tall player donated 500 packages of sports equipment and 300 food packages for school children whose parents work at Hammersmith and Fulham. He is also the first person from the Chelsea squad to have dialogues with club officials about the issue of cutting wages amid the pandemic.
Chelsea considers Azpilicueta to be a person who can speak well, whether for Chelsea’s poor results, or about a big narrative from a football point of view. In January 2020, he spoke on behalf of the club in the campaign against anti-Semitism. The quality on or off the pitch is proof that Azpilicueta has become a symbol for Chelsea.
“He is someone who always does his job thinking, without leaving anyone out. But, at the same time, when it was necessary to say a few things, he said it. He’s not afraid to speak up and that’s very important. I would call him a balanced leader, “said Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola.
The former Olympique de Marseille and CA Osasuna player is indeed increasingly marginalized in the midst of a wave of young talents who offer more stamina and abilities. However, Azpilicueta was too big to be sidelined.
“Being the captain of Chelsea implies a huge responsibility, for the fans and their expectations. Our work is exposed to the public and, furthermore, gets the opinions of many people. We have to turn this pressure into a reflection for ourselves. Realizing that you can do better and move forward, ”explained Azpilicueta in an exclusive interview with the Spanish newspaper, Expansion.
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