How Morgan Rogers Unlocks Cole Palmer At Chelsea

Morgan Rodgers has joined Chelsea for a record fee, but this signing is worth so much more than a lot of cash

From recreating Alonso's double tens at Leverkusen, bringing traits that Chelsea seriously lack and getting Cole Palmer back to his very best

I'm Jacob Horsfall, 4-4-2's resident tactician, and this is why Morgan Rodgers is the perfect signing for Xavi Alonso's Chelsea

To understand the impact of Rodgers signing for Chelsea

we first got to understand the basic principles of Alonso's football. The 3-4-3 formation is tagged to Alonso's name

Both attacking wingers operate extremely narrow and act as two tens, with the wingbacks taking up true wing-up positions

This creates a front line of five and allows them to pin the opposition's defence extremely narrow

opening up those wide flanks, which then pulled the opposition's defence wide, opening up the

space for the cutback to those narrow front three players. Now, at the moment, without Morgan Rodgers

I don't think Chelsea have the profiles to play in that way. Giovanni, Quenda and Rhys James

operate as the wingbacks feels right. Quenda brings the running and directness that we saw

from Jeremy Frimpong at Leverkusen. Last season, Quenda averaged 16.8 sprints per 90. Frimpong

had just 2.6 more. Then on the other side you've got Rhys James whose delivery doesn't need to be

spoken about and neither does Grimaldos but in Alonso's system one of these wing backs has to be

the control variable the one who's going to keep play moving be able to put in a killer ball on a

regular basis and that was Grimaldos at Leverkusen and it's going to be Rhys James at Chelsea. The

problem Alonso currently has is that actual attacking front line that front three. João Pedro

is the leading striker, hands down. And then Cole Palma takes one of those number 10 roles

drifting on the inside, being able to get in behind, drifting into the wide spaces

having the autonomy to be Cole Palma. But there's a hole for the partner in number 10

Garnatio isn't someone who can come by in tight space and operate in the pockets. Pedro Neto is pretty much the exact same

Their only option, really, would be Esteval. However, he's still a little bit raw

Yes, he's great. And I really do think Alonso will love Esteval

But, there is a gap for a proper number 10 profile in the mould of a Xavi Alonso player

which begs the question, could Cole Palmer and Morgan Rodgers reunite? And will it work

Eyes of goal guys, whoa, what's a goal? Morgan Rodgers. Ben Jacobs reported that Chelsea pitched the left wing position to Rodgers telling them he play on the left alongside Cole Palmer which is so so important to consider Because Morgan Rodgers himself told Gary Lineker that he loves to play more central

so he's involved in the game, which suggests he isn't going to Chelsea to be a conventional out-and-out winger

but instead to be an Alonso winger. A classic 4-2-3-1 with Rodgers through the middle and Palmer moved that wide

would have made sense on the face of it. But then you've got Cole Palmer not being able to play at his best

The use of two tens gives both Palmer and Rodgers the autonomy and freedom to have their own pocket of space, both centrally and out wide

But also, they can just move freely and do what they want

For example, Rodgers wants to be everywhere. His Villa heatmap shows that he loves to drift into that wide left area

Because that allows him to use his pace and power to get him behind and then chop onto his preferred right foot and wrap it into the far corner

However, we know Roger's strengths, positional tendencies and creativity does more suit that of a number 10, someone who can play through the middle, get on the ball regularly

If we revisit his heat map, you see he drifts into that left pocket and operates across the whole outskirts of the opposition's 18-yard box

So it wouldn't make sense to pigeonhole him into being a winger who just stays by the wing, who's by the touchline, or as a number 10 who is only in that central space and is purely just a facilitator

You just wouldn't get the best out of Morgan Rodgers in either of those two roles

Alonso instead pushes positional fluidity within the system. Florian Vert as the 10 being this deep pulls open space between the opposition's midfield and defence for other Leverkusen players to get into

They then can combine quickly to then pull even more space for one of their teammates to go in behind

Which if it translates to Chelsea as you would expect. it would allow both Morgan Rodgers and Cole Palmer

to find pockets of space around and inside the opposition's block on a regular basis

Which means at times you could see Rodgers and Palmer on top of one another

pulling the opposition out before quickly combining to send one of Rhys James, one of João Pedro, one of Quenda

in behind the opposition's defence. Equally, you could expect to see Morgan Rodgers in this position

getting on the ball in a deep area, using his ball carrying to drag his side forward

and forcing the opposition to engage with him which in turn would create more space for Cole

Palmer give Cole Palmer central space to operate in. If Rodgers drops deep teams will track him due

to his threat when ball carrying which would allow Chelsea to overload the back line or maybe the

opposition will drop in due to Palmer threat which then allows Rodgers to make something happen when carrying the ball The new Chelsea man ranked 5th in the Premier League for take attempted last season which can be devastating If you give Rodgers space to carry into space to run at

he will hurt you. But this isn't all just about Rodgers. The rotations are from this front three and even the wing-backs will certainly help Rodgers shine

but it could also roll back the clock for a certain cold bloke called Cole Palmer

The 24-year-old had his best ever season in the 2023-24 campaign, in which he was given complete freedom to rotate in and out of the attack

get into the pocket he wanted to be in, and just do what Cole Palmer wanted to do

Palmer operating with Nicholas Jackson, who always occupies multiple defenders at once

with also having two wider, more natural wingers, allowed Palma to get on the ball in any pocket he wanted to

whether it be the right half space through the middle or outside on the left with space to create a score

I can imagine that now that Xavi Alonso has got Morgan Rodgers, similar to how he did with Florian Vert

and the other number 10s and wingbacks he had at Leverkusen, will give Rodgers and Palma that freedom

to pick up the spaces they want to be in, which is great. And this front three that we see here

has the positional fluidity to drift around, rotate with one another and be devastating against so

many different sides. But both Palmer and Morgan Rodgers will have to adopt and adjust to a new

stylistic way of playing. Bayer Leverkusen ranked third in the Bundesliga at four through boards

attempted under Xavi Alonso. They used overloads and tight grouping to bait out players of the

opposition and attack space rather than constantly pinning teams inside their own box and trying to

meticulously break them down which will be a huge change for a lot of Chelsea players going from

Maresca and Liam Resimia. However in the unbeaten season Alonso had at Leverkusen they took more

touches than anyone else in the Bundesliga and completed over 200 final third passes per game

which shows Alonso's tactical flexibility but will mean that Rodgers will have something almost

entirely new to get used to. Aston Villa's whole game plan was jamming the first phase and therefore

pulling the opposition out, with Rodgers being basically a target forward, operating 1v1 and

targeting space in beyond. Aston Villa sat 6th for average possession in the Premier League last

season, in comparison to Chelsea, who sat in 3rd. Which isn't necessarily a stylistic difference

between, you know, Maresca and Unai Emery, but it's just something that naturally comes when you

have the reputation of a team like Chelsea versus an Aston Villa Chelsea face teams who minimize space in a low block and double up on their players which means attacking players have to find little pockets of space with

their back to goal. Here Palmer receives it, takes a touch away from the goal so that he can pull

Burnley players out and unsettle their low block before playing through and completely breaking what

Burnley were trying to do. Rodgers hasn't regularly had to be in that way. He's not really been a

player who's always receiving back to goal on the edge of the box with three or four players around

him because at Villa he was always the direct attacking fast moving player with the space to

attack and operate in therefore Rodgers against these low block teams needs a lot of freedom

because he can dart into the box which will pull the opposition deeper and create space for Cole

Palmer or João Pedro to drop out and get on the ball on the edge of the box which as we know if

you've watched Morgan Rodgers he has that ability to do that box crashing sort of role and it won't

be his permanent role or the only thing he's good for but it could be a way to unleash the shackles

of Cole Palmer in these low block games, which is something that kind of struggled to do

last season under both Maresca and Resinia. Now, don't get me wrong, it's early doors for this summer window

and Chelsea, I am sure, have a load more business to do. This potential team you see here

will more than likely not be the team that starts the opening game of the season

Now, Pedro, Palmer and Rodgers as a front three are incredibly balanced

and incredibly xavi Alonso based, but the two midfielders that come behind them

are equally as important. Alonso likes to use some sort of a box shape when he's side in the mid third of the pitch

The two deeper midfielders need to be capable of rotating with the two tens within that box structure

So how Morgan Rodgers performs doesn't just rely on him, doesn't just rely on Palmer, doesn't just rely on Xavi Alonso

It also relies on who's going to end up playing behind him, who's going to be his safety blanket

That's just something we don't know. And it's something you never really know with Chelsea because they are so unpredictable

But there is a few things we can say for certain. Morgan Rodgers is a good goal scorer, he's a good creator, and he's someone who, when it comes to ball carrying, is almost second to none in the Premier League

And they are things that you want from a big money player, someone who has that star quality, can grab a game by the scruff of the neck

That's what Xavi Alonso will want, it's what Chelsea probably do need. Now again, there's a lot that still needs to be decided, and it all depends on how Chelsea finish this summer window

but I do think that Rodgers should be a decent signing if we ignore the mental fee that's been

put on his name but I do want you to let me know in the comments down below how many goals do you

think Rodgers gets next season and will he get the best out of Cole Palmer I've been Jacob

Hall's fault this has been 442 and we'll see you all again next week for more brilliant ysis peace