We’re only two games in to the new season, so trying to draw too many conclusions from the data we have so far is pretty risky. But there are certainly some major trends you can begin to identify from 180 minutes of action.
This time a year ago, Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea revolution was well underway, and the list of the players in the Premier League with the most passes was littered with Blues.
Both of the central defenders in the Italian’s spent the entire season up among the league’s most regular passers, and Jorginho was setting league records at this stage for the crazy number of times he was moving the ball back and forth.
This season, it seems we’ve gone a different direction. Frank Lampard prefers a quick buildup, and that’s clearly represented in our play. WhoScored have the full list of PL players, and when you sort by passes / 90 minutes, the top Chelsea players is Emerson – way down in 28th place.
A year ago we would have had 3 or 4 players ahead of him. What a difference a year makes.
