Saul Niguez nightmare Chelsea debut was a midfield mistake that nearly cost Tuchel dearly

“Wasn’t the expected debut” was the way Chelsea new boy Saul Niguez described his first appearance on Twitter following his pretty brutal introduction to Premier League football.

The midfielder on loan from Atletico Madrid only lasted 45 minutes before Thomas Tuchel intervened to replace the struggling Spaniard with Jorginho. Tuchel had good reason to as Aston Villa’s energy had overwhelmed Saul and caused continued issues for the Blues in transition.

For Saul, it was a challenging opening to a new chapter in his career and probably the best demonstration of the difference of intensity in England’s topflight compared to other leagues. Tuchel put his hands up after and admitted throwing him into the limelight so early was an error of his usually wise judgment. For the 26-year-old, it can only go up from here.

It can be tempting to solely focus on the errors of our own players, rather than praising the work of the opposition to force those mistakes. Villa’s all-around performance was strong, and much of that good work was demonstrated in the pressing and aggressiveness from central areas.

The midfield double-act of John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey were unafraid to press Chelsea’s 'double six' of Saul and Mateo Kovacic. Very early on McGinn set the tone as he nibbled at Saul’s heals to smartly win back possession for Villa before looking up the pitch. Not long after Saul looked to make up for his error, but the streetwise Scotsman was able to attract a foul.

For Chelsea’s new No 17, this was only the start of a difficult evening.

A frequent occurrence in the opening period was Saul being hunted down by claret and blue shirts to then lose the ball. This almost always was McGinn and Ramsey who appear to have been instructed to test Chelsea’s new signing. The risk to commit men high against Chelsea can be dangerous, as they found in the creation of the opening goal from Romelu Lukaku. But the rewards were certainly worth pursuing as Saul lost possession nine times in 45 minutes.

Most baffling was Niguez playing a pass straight to Danny Ings under no pressure, which probably best summarised a half he will desperately want to put behind him.

Saul Niguez picks up the ball under little pressure and has at least three options to choose from in Hakim Ziyech, Mateo Kovacic and Callum Hudson-Odoi. (WyScout)

Saul then inexplicably turns back and plays a timid pass straight into the feet of Danny Ings who can then start an Aston Villa attack, which is luckily snuffed out. (WyScout)

In terms of positioning, Chelsea were continually exposed on the right-hand side of midfield where Saul was placed in Tuchel’s 3-4-2-1. Saul, either by instruction or not, kept drifting to his favoured left-hand side where Kovacic was placed ahead of him. This left a huge hole which Villa’s Ramsey continually found to good effect to make driving runs towards Chelsea’s back-three.

Chelsea’s ‘double-six’ were easily bypassed after a loss in possession leaving an alarming gap between the defensive trio and the rest of their team.

Mateo Kovacic and Saul Niguez both on the let side of Chelsea's midfield as John McGinn finds Jacob Ramsey in space on the left channel to run into. (WyScout)

Jacob Ramsey runs with the ball before being able to get a shot at goal which is comfortably claimed by Edouard Mendy. (WyScout)

The first of the two most egregious examples of this was only two minutes after Chelsea’s opening goal. Saul Niguez picks up the ball near the halfway line and instantly plays a ball forward-looking to the left channel. The alert McGinn is quick to intercept the wayward pass and within a couple of seconds, the Villa man has unlocked space for his team to easily exploit.

Saul Niguez fires a pass towards Chelsea's left hand side which is intercepted by an alert John McGinn. (WyScout)

McGinn plays the ball to Douglas Luiz who is presented with a major hole in Chelsea's midfield to play a simple pass into. (WyScout)

Luiz's pass finds its intended target with Ramsey again exploiting Chelsea's left-channel with both Saul and Kovacic taken out of the game and the Blues back-three isolated. (WyScout)

Ramsey finds Watkins who cuts inside and drills a low effort which is brilliant stopped by Mendy at the near post to keep Chelsea ahead. (WyScout)

Not long after, Watkins is presented with an even better chance to level the score.

Probably the strongest example of Ramsey and McGinn swarming over Saul, leaving Kovacic free. McGinn wins the ball back, turns and plays in Watkins who rounds Mendy, only to have his scuffed effort blocked by Thiago Silva.

Saul is intensely closed down by Ramsey and McGinn before the Scottish midfielder steals the ball back and creates Villa's best chance of the game. (WyScout)

Chelsea were able to get into half-time at 1-0 and that was the end of Saul’s opening night in west London. Tuchel’s trusted midfield general Jorginho took his place and quickly set a more controlled and calming tone.

Saul will have to learn fast, but it is also fair to add some context to such a brutal welcome. Thiago Silva’s first Premier League appearance was most highlighted by an untimely slip which allowed Callum Robinson to score for West Brom at The Hawthorns as Chelsea would go into half-time 3-0 down.

Since then, Silva has been one of Chelsea’s strongest players and an outstanding addition to the first-team squad. Saul has been through some challenging years and the hope will be that he can recover, adapt and prove some early doubters wrong.

As introductions go, it cannot get much worse than this.

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