New signings excite but Chelsea’s ‘reliable saloon’ remains a key man
All eyes were on Chelsea’s three home debutants, and of course Didier Drogba, on Saturday. But maybe we were all looking in the wrong direction.
It stands to reason that most of the fascination in this season’s first Premier League fixture at the Bridge lay in the performances of Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas and Thibaut Courtois and whether their seamless introduction to the line-up at Burnley had been just a mirage.
But in the end, it was arguably the enduring qualities of one of their established greats that did most to turn the tide in Chelsea’s favour after a turgid first half.
Branislav Ivanovic typifies the Jose Mourinho ethic. Robust, decisive, dependable to the last and capable of injecting life when it needs to be injected.
The Blues boss, fond of analogies, has always said he trusts reliable family saloons rather than flash sports cars. In that sense, Ivanovic is irreplaceable.
There is a theory, however, that once Filipe Luis has acclimatised, he will join his former Atletico Madrid team-mates Costa and Courtois in becoming a first-team regular, taking over at left-back with Cesar Azpilicueta switching to the right.
That would leave Ivanovic as central defensive cover for John Terry and Gary Cahill or possibly used as a versatile stand-in for the other full-backs – a sort of utility man in the manner of Paul Madeley at Leeds United in the 1970s, for those above a certain age.
But against Leicester, the Serb once again demonstrated just how vital he is to Mourinho’s evolved side and why the assumptions about him taking on a lesser role may be wide of the mark.
Mourinho described his team’s first-half performance as “lazy” – and Ivanovic seemed to take it upon himself to change the tempo in the second half and popped up to send two headers and a pile-driver at keeper Kaspar Schmeichel.
In another breakaway, led by Willian and Costa, he was the man busting a gut to try and get on the end of a breathless counter-attack in the 76th minute.
He did not score. Costa took the headlines with his second goal in two games to answer some of those questions about the adaptation of the new men.
But guess who was providing the assist for that crucial opener. The tireless Ivanovic burst forward down the right to take a pass from Oscar before crossing for Costa to do what Costa does best.
Eden Hazard capped a comfortable enough 2-0 win. But it needed the energy of their indefatigable defender to help change the mood.
It was typical of Ivanovic’s contribution in the past two seasons – his knack of making himself more or less indispensable – even without moments like that winning goal against Benfica in the Europa League final.
His blemishes are rare enough to stick in the memory – such as his costly defensive blunders in the League Cup semi-final against Swansea two seasons ago.
More often than not, he comes up trumps. He is a warrior Mourinho knows will deliver. A vehicle we won’t see broken down on the hard shoulder too often.
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