Chelsea match-winner is top 5% for passing but bottom 10% dribbling; fans struggle to accept his role | OneFootball

Marc Cucurella was the centre of attention once against yesterday as he scored his 4th Premier League goal of the season to win Chelsea a second Premier League game in a row and fire his team back into the top 4.

He had scored the 4th against Southampton the week before to seal that game, and yesterday added to his season tally with a low strike from outside the box as he rushed on to a well played cutback.

His role this season has been very unusual – he’s often used as a midfielder in build-up play, coming inside to sit alongside Moises Caicedo in midfield rather than staying wide and running beyond defences as we’re more accustomed to seeing full backs do at Chelsea.

It’s creating quite the stir among fans, who see his lack of overlapping as a symptomatic of the often dull, slow possession play we’re seeing under Enzo Maresca this season.

His stats show you just what we mean. Matched up to other full backs in the top 5 leagues, Cucurella shines in terms of pass completion (95th percentile), passes attempted (73rd) and touches (73rd), showing how often he gets on the ball in that interior role.

On the on he’s in the 35th percentile for expected assists, 28th for shot creating actions, 10th for progressive carrier and 35th for progressive passes received.

Maresca has found a role which suits Cucurella’s game

Marc Cucurella scores against Leicester. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

Should we be complaining that Cucurella isn’t getting forward down the wing if he’s doing a great job shooting and scoring himself? Maybe not. This might not be everyone’s preferred setup, but Cucurella is doing what’s asked of him to a very high level.

Given his strengths as a player line up better with this role better than they do as a flying wing back, perhaps we should be hailing Maresca for creating a setup which gets the best out of the expensive investment in the Spaniard.