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Skilled coaches are becoming the norm in top-level football.
Liverpool two years ago hires touch coach Thomas Gronenmark to specifically improve this aspect of the Reds game. And suddenly they began to rack up trophies under the leadership of Jurgen Klopp.
This year Chelsea continued the trend and is already reaping the benefits of hiring a static specialist at Frank Lampard’s headquarters.
Anthony Barry, 34, has a modest career as a traveling player at clubs like Accrington Stanley, Yeovil Town and Chester City.
But as a developing coach with great potential, he was hired at Stamford Bridge to help solve Chelsea’s huge defensive problems.
This is a weakness that was written about a lot last season. The Blues conceded 54 goals in the Premier League, including 15 from static positions.
Obviously something had to change, and in addition to buying new key figures in defense in the face of Thiago Silva and Ben Chillwell, the club also called on the services of a special coach in this area.
Lampard made no secret of his excitement after the arrival of Anthony Barry.
“He is a young and exciting coach that I have known for a long time. He will be a great addition to the team,” said the coach and he was right.
In the new season, Chelsea not only tightened the ranks on defense and improved defense in static situations, but in turn began to punish opponents more frequently in standard situations.
Obviously, Barry’s work is working.
The new players in defense, as well as the new goalkeeper Edward Mendy, contribute a lot, but among the most successful additions for this summer we must put Barry.
The assistant met Lampard at a training course two years ago. The Chelsea legend was impressed by Barry’s attention to detail and later did not hesitate when he had the opportunity to take him to their headquarters.
Young Reese James also met Barry in Wigan, where he transferred two seasons ago, and was very happy to work with him.
Now the statistics speak of Chelsea’s defensive change: five dry nets in the first 11 rounds of the Premier League and the second best defense in the league.
In the group stage of the Champions League, only two goals were conceded in six games. At times, Barry’s intervention was evident during matches, for example when he yelled instructions to defenders in static situations against Wren.
With his 190cm and impressive physique, Kurt Zuma always looks like a threat when he enters the opponent’s penalty area. But the defender has never been as productive as this season and has not scored more than two goals per season in the Premier League.
He has already scored four goals this season, including a typical header against Leeds last week.
The Frenchman has improved his positioning and now uses his physical data much better to dominate after the crosses of Mason Mount, Ben Chillwell or Hakim Ziesh.
Of Chelsea’s 25 league goals, seven came after static positions.
Later today, the “blues” face Everton and if they score again with a dry goal and score a goal after a cross from a free kick or a corner kick, it should not surprise us at all: this is the new Chelsea .
And with the contribution of Anthony Barry, it is increasingly becoming a team capable of reaching the top.
