Posted by Lamin Oo

The Villas-Boas era at Chelsea FC started out with a setback. In early July, Chelsea's midfield engine Michael Essien injured his right knee in training. After a successful surgery, it was announced that the Ghanaian international will be out for at least six months. As the speculations of his replacement continue to circulate, I take a look back at Michael Essien's contribution to Chelsea in Barclay's Premier League 2010-2011.

First let me just state the obvious that it is easier to analyze the performance of a solely attacking or a solely defending player than that of a midfielder who is involved in both offense and defense. The statistics, such as Goals and Assists, give you a neat and tidy picture of a striker's input. Clean Sheets, on the other hand,  tell you how effective a defender is. Although these numbers and statistics can be used to evaluate a midfielder, they do not tell you the whole story.

At any rate, here are the usual statistics of Michael Essien in the Premier League 2010-2011.

 

On the surface, it looks pretty unimpressive. Even a defender like Branislav Ivanovic (4 goals and 4 assists) has scored more goals and provided more assists than Essien. The Chelsea number 5 also committed a number of fouls and he was the only Chelsea player to have been sent off in this past Premier League season. However, one rather unsuspecting statistics caught my eyes. Foul Suffered.



As it turns out, Essien was the most fouled Chelsea player in the Premier League last season. He was fouled 53 times. [Note: Ashley Cole, who was fouled 45 times, is in the second place.] Generally, we don't look at Foul Suffered (FS) as an important measure of a player's contribution but a quick look at recent history tells us that we might be missing out by ignoring that particular statistics.

In 2009-2010 double winning season, Didier Drogba, the top goal scorer of that season, was the most fouled Chelsea player in the league, with 55 FS's. In the Back To Back title winning seasons of 04-05 and 05-06, "the irreplaceable" Claude Makelele held the high numbers of FS in the Chelsea squad, with 69 and 60 in the respective seasons. If we look over at Manchester United, Christiano Ronaldo (Surprise, surprise) was the most fouled United player from 2006 to 2009, during which the Red Devils won three consecutive league titles -- 06-07 (98), 07-08 (82), and 08-09 (79). Over the years, FS has a painful badge of honor reserved for impact making players.

Plus, if you look at which players from last season (10-11) have suffered the most fouls in their respective clubs, you will notice a similar trend -- good players get fouled.

Even by briefly scanning through these names, you might recognize that players who are prone to be fouled by opponents can be generally divided into two camps – those that do step-overs and those that never stop running. The likes of Ronaldo, Nani, Drogba, Fabregas, Bale and Van der Vaart are skillful, attack minded players who belong to the “step-over camp”. On the other hand, the likes of Makelele, Essien, Park, De Jong, Tevez and Modric are players, with lungs the size of Goodyear blimps, who chase loose balls, close down on oppositions and are always on the move throughout the whole game. The latter camp might be called the “industrious camp.” I think this FS statistics of Michael Essien tells us a lot about his performance for Chelsea last season and the nature of his game in general.

Ball Possession

First of all, you don't need to have a UEFA coaching license to figure out that a player is most likely to be fouled when he is in possession of the ball. Fouls are usually committed when a player tries to dispossess the ball from the opponent. Essien's high FS number hints that he probably had a lot of ball possession last season. Plus, you know a player is doing a great job of possessing the ball if the only way opponents can dispossess the ball from him is to commit a foul. This assessment is supported by another statistics -- Pass Received (PR) -- which was tweeted by OptaJoe.    

Essien received 2004 passes in the 2010-2011 Premier League season, making him the top pass receiver in the entire league. This, again, indicates that he had a lot of the ball possession for Chelsea last season. He was the main connection between the defense and the offense -- receiving balls from the defense to move forward and collecting the pass back from the offense when attack needed to change direction. His FS and PR statistics also point to another attribute in Essien's game.

Stamina

Even a casual football player, who conducts his trade in weekend kick about games bumpy pitches of the local park, may have observed that players tend to commit fouls when they are tired. Worn out legs often equal clumsy challenges. Hence, it does not seem out of ordinary that a player like Essien, who can run tirelessly through out the whole ninety minutes, has been fouled many times. Again, his high PR statistics is a testament to Essien's stamina; a player can only receive a pass if he is in open positions, which he has to run to create for himself on most occasions. 

Get Stuck In

Finally, let me make another point, which might be already obvious to most of you, regarding what FS statistics can tell us about the player who has come to be known as "The Bison." One fail-safe way to avoid being fouled or committing a foul is to not go in for 50-50 balls. You won't get wet if you don't go near water. But, we all know what kind of a player Michael Essien is. He has never been shy to get stuck in. It is often a concern with players who come back from serious injuries that they wouldn't go into challenges that could possibly put them back onto crutches. Essien has just returned from his knee injury before last season but he seems to have kept his inner "bison" alive.

Hail To The Beast

To most fans, it felt as if Essien did not have a great season in 2010-2011 and they are probably right. Essien should get his share of the blame for a trophy-less season. But if what Chelsea lacked season, as pointed out by both fans and analysts, was offensive creativity, then the charge against Essien should be more lenient, for he has never been known for skills and flairs. His game is built on endless energy, commitment, power and strength, which he has shown plenty in his performance last season. I think the Foul Suffered statistics support that observation. 

Chelsea will find a way to replace the Ghanaian while he recovers from his latest injury but he will surely be missed. I truly hope that he can come back better and stronger.

Carefree, wherever you may be...

You can follow me on twitter @CareFreeChronic. 

You can also read my other post on my blog or on BlueTinted.com.