Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino did not qualify his praise when asked about his club’s marquee midfield signing Moises Caicedo as he spoke to Alan Shearer in August. He did sound one note of caution.
“He’s one of the best, or the best, midfielders in the Premier League,” Pochettino said. “He showed that in Brighton but now he needs to show it here, with another kind of pressure. Psychology is very important, so we need to give him the platform and the confidence to feel good and happy.
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“I hope Caicedo can perform as soon as possible, but we need to give him time. We don’t need to put too much pressure on him. Our responsibility in the time we spend together is to give him calm and time and to get him in his best condition.”
Caicedo has quickly assumed a prominence befitting the eye-watering £115million ($146m) spend that prised him from Brighton and Hove Albion, featuring in 11 of the 12 Premier League matches Chelsea have played, starting nine and playing 76.3 per cent of the available minutes.
But how well has he performed and how has his role changed at Stamford Bridge?
Caicedo’s form has trended positively since a haphazard debut as a substitute in defeat against West Ham United in August. There have been plenty of flashes of the destructive instincts and technical quality that marked him out to Chelsea as an ideal foil for Enzo Fernandez, as well as signs of a formidable three-man midfield unit developing with Conor Gallagher.
Chelsea are unbeaten in the last five Premier League matches the three have started together. The steadying presence of Caicedo, rested after his international exertions with Ecuador, was missed in the miserable loss to Newcastle at St James’ Park; Lesley Ugochukwu showed flashes of promise but less polish with and without the ball.
With the ball
Most often deployed in a midfield double pivot at Brighton last season, Caicedo’s role at Chelsea has been slightly different: while nominally partnering Fernandez at the base of a 4-2-3-1, in reality he often finds himself holding his position as the deepest midfielder as the other two operate in front of him.
This can be seen in a subtle shift in the distribution of his touches, which have been slightly more concentrated in the heart of midfield:
Caicedo is Chelsea’s primary option for building up possession, presenting himself to receive passes from goalkeeper Robert Sanchez even when under pressure.
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If he does manage to get time and space on the ball, his inclination is to use it to stretch the opposition; he is attempting 0.54 switches of play — defined by fbref.com as passes that travel more than 40 yards the width of the pitch — per 90 minutes in the Premier League, up significantly from 0.26 switches per 90 in 2022-23.
One pass found Levi Colwill on the run up the left flank in the lead-up to Mykhailo Mudryk’s goal against Fulham at the start of October. Another was this delivery floated directly to the Ukraine forward in the closing stages of Chelsea’s 4-1 win over Burnley:
When he is pressured by opponents, Caicedo has proven to be a reliable protector of the ball and a calm decision-maker. Brentford placed particular emphasis on trying to turn him over to ignite counter-attacks at Stamford Bridge last month, but without much success.
Yoane Wissa closes the distance and positions himself to cut out any attempted pass towards Axel Disasi…
… but instead, Caicedo swivels to his left, rolling the ball under his right foot and changing direction so quickly that he fools Wissa and Christian Norgaard — who has rushed forward to support his team-mate — while maintaining control:
Later in the first half, an underhit sideways Marc Cucurella pass sends three Brentford players converging on Caicedo at speed:
Once again, he positions his body to shield the ball before swivelling on the spot, freezing his opponents and buying himself the time and space to return the ball to Cucurella:
Caicedo has been more conservative with his distribution at Chelsea; his progressive passes per 90 minutes are down from 6.3 at Brighton last season to 4.9, while his 0.7 key passes per 90 represents a drop from 1.2 in 2022-23.
When given the opportunity to operate in more advanced midfield positions, he is capable of seeing and executing incisive passes. Here, against Brighton in the Carabao Cup, he springs Chelsea onto the attack by poking the ball away from Carlos Baleba and pushes into the opposition half…
…where he gets it back and hits a delicate pass into the penalty area for Mudryk:
Caicedo has good instincts to recognise the right moment to run into more advanced positions. In the second half against Manchester City, he sees that Manuel Akanji has been drawn upfield to track Gallagher as he offloads the ball to Reece James:
James duly clips the ball over the top and Caicedo leaves Bernardo Silva trailing in his wake. Josko Gvardiol is forced to come across and make a sliding tackle to deny a chance to square the ball to Nicolas Jackson:
But these moments have been few and far between for Caicedo; playing alongside Fernandez and Gallagher requires him to be much more of a pure No 6.
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Without the ball
Given his less expansive brief at Chelsea, it is surprising that Caicedo’s defensive numbers are significantly down.
The best measure of a player’s activity in this regard are ‘true tackles’ (tackles plus challenges lost plus fouls committed per 1,000 opponent touches) and ‘true interceptions’ (interceptions and blocked passes per 1,000 opponent touches), since both account for variance in a team’s share of possession.
Caicedo is averaging seven true tackles per 1,000 opponent touches at Chelsea, down from 9.2 at Brighton in 2022-23. His true interceptions have fallen drastically from 4.8 per 1,000 opponent touches last season to just 2.3. These numbers indicate he is far less aggressive off the ball.
Several factors are likely at play. One could be the stylistic difference between Chelsea under Pochettino and Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton. Another could be that, as a more pure No 6, Caicedo is understandably more wary of committing himself and potentially exposing the defenders. He may simply not be operating at his peak level for his new team yet.
There is no doubt that Caicedo’s instincts for sniffing out danger and winning the ball back remain as strong.
When pressing high up the pitch, he has generated valuable opposition turnovers. Against Burnley, he nips in to win the ball and initiate the sequence that ends with Raheem Sterling putting Chelsea 3-1 up:
And here he is in the early minutes against Arsenal, popping up on the edge of the visitors’ box to intercept a risky Oleksandr Zinchenko pass towards Gabriel Martinelli:
When his team are defending deeper, Caicedo scans for potential threats and is quick to react to the movement of the players and ball around him. In this sequence, Tottenham look primed to create an advantage as Cristian Romero threads a sharp pass forward into the feet of James Maddison, who has found a pocket of space to receive the ball:
Caicedo closes the gap quickly enough to force Maddison to turn left rather than right, enabling Fernandez to get the ball off him:
Here, against Brighton, he recognises that Colwill is being drawn wide to track the diagonal run of Facundo Buonanotte, leaving space centrally for Joao Pedro to attack…
… and by the time Buonanotte reaches the ball, a burst of pace has put Caicedo in front of Joao Pedro to rule out the possibility of a cutback:
Caicedo’s speed, coupled with his solid defensive fundamentals, increase his value to Chelsea at that end of the pitch. In the second half against Arsenal, he finds himself filling in for Malo Gusto at right-back, isolated against the fast and tricky Martinelli…
… but he stays with the Brazil forward, offering no route inside and tracking him towards the byline, where he is able to block an attempted cross:
Caicedo has only just turned 22 and, at times, more experienced opponents are still able to exploit his eagerness to win the ball. Towards the end of the first half against Arsenal, Gabriel Jesus lures him over the halfway line and beats him with a slick spin and one-two with Zinchenko, forcing Thiago Silva to commit a foul:
In the frantic final minutes against City, he rushes at Mateo Kovacic as the Croatia midfielder prepares to receive a pass from Rodri…
… only to be taken out of the game with a spin that allows Kovacic to drive at the defence:
The most skilled dribblers in the Premier League are capable of making anyone look foolish, but sequences like these should become rarer as Caicedo grows in experience. A more urgent issue for Pochettino should be limiting the moments when opponents play through the first line of Chelsea’s pressure, leaving the Ecuador star with too much space to cover.
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One example of this almost gave Tottenham a 2-0 lead. Fernandez and Gallagher are caught behind play as Pape Matar Sarr lines up a diagonal pass to Destiny Udogie. Caicedo, blocking off a pass to Maddison, is too far away to affect it:
Udogie moves the ball quickly to Brennan Johnson and the winger’s low cross is converted by Son Heung-min, only for a VAR offside to rescue Chelsea:
Against City, Kyle Walker dribbles around Jackson too easily and sees the opportunity for a quick pass into Bernardo Silva. Once again, with Fernandez and Gallagher caught behind the play, Caicedo is in no position to intervene:
One pass and seven seconds later, Chelsea’s nightmare scenario becomes reality: Erling Haaland is free in the penalty area with the ball at his left foot. This time Sanchez saves:
Both examples feature incisive play from two attacking teams, but they highlight that Chelsea’s midfield balance may require further tweaking to avoid undermining Caicedo’s defensive impact.
It would be unreasonable to expect Caicedo to live up to his £115million price tag; even Chelsea did not think he merited that level of transfer fee until their attempts at negotiation with Brighton were destroyed by the entry of an equally desperate Liverpool into the race.
The first three months at Stamford Bridge have provided ample evidence that he is an excellent young midfielder. Chelsea are not quite seeing the best of him yet, in part a natural consequence of adapting to a new team still finding itself and because he is playing a role that places less emphasis on his more expansive skills.
Contracted until 2031 with the option of a further year, he has nothing but time to grow his role and his game.
(Top photo: Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
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