A far cry from the man who was constantly being loaned out to get regular playing time, Victor Moses made the right-wingback position his birthright last term under Antonio Conte. But that was largely due to the fact that he had no competition for that position. Following the acquisition of an another proficient right-wingback, does the bench beckon on Victor Moses once again?
Victor Moses story with Chelsea is quite an interesting one. The young winger found renaissance just when he was almost given up on. A £9 million steal from Wigan in 2012, Moses was expected to become an integral part of the Chelsea team without much fuss. However, a series of managerial changes at SW6 saw the Nigerian needing to go out on loan for any chance of first team football.
Then came Antonio Conte. After yet another loan spell riddled with injuries and scarce playing time, Victor Moses returned to Chelsea to fight for his place under his new Italian manager. Unlike in the past, he wasn’t fighting a losing battle.
Conte did start off playing four at the back – that meant there wasn’t a regular place for Moses in his team. But then the former Juve boss switched to the 3-4-3 system that won him so much laurels in Turin. Playing three at the back, two workaholic wingbacks were needed – enter Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso.
The Nigerian attacker became a mainstay in an overly defensive Chelsea side that bullied everyone on their way to their second league title in a hat-trick of years.
Moses would play 39 games (33 in the league) and score four goals. Moses heroics helped Chelsea qualify for the Champions League this season. That meant more games to play.
With foreseeable 50+ games to be played this season, it was only wise for Chelsea to reinforce every position. In defense, Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen came in; those two would have a hard time usurping either David Luiz or Chelsea skipper, Gary Cahill. Tiemoué Bakayoko and Danny Drinkwater where brought in to beef up the midfield. Alvaro Morata came in to become Chelsea’s ‘new darling’ number nine. Finally, Davide Zappacosta, a right-wingback came in from Torino. The Italian would provide stiff competition for that right-wingback position with Victor Moses.
Davide Zappacosta is a versatile wingback with the ability to play in either the right or left flank. Being right-footed, his preferred position is the right wing which is where he does more damage.
The first edge Zappacosta has over Moses is that he’s nominally a right-back who can really attack. Moses, on the other hand, is an attacker who, being a wingback, is still not reliable enough in the final third. Zappacosta’s goal against Quarabag, cross or not, proves the above point. Since the start of last season, Marcos Alonso has scored eight times and contributed three assists in the league; Moses, a natural attacker has managed just three goals and two assists in the same period.
Zappacosta’s superb run and goal, plus assist against Quarabag shows he’ll provide more than a competition for Victor Moses if the former Liverpool loanee doesn’t up his game. Is Moses’s position in Conte’s team under threat? I say YES. He’ll get his chances, but Conte won’t hesitate to cut him loose if he doesn’t improve.
