Chelsea Man Willian: It's Time for the Brazilian to Improve His Attacking Output

Willian Borges da Silva isn't a headline-grabber. He certainly isn't the star of the show at Jose Mourinho's Chelsea 2.0.

Yet there is something about the fuzzy-haired Brazilian that has helped endear him to both his manager and the Stamford Bridge faithful.

There are some individuals with a security of starts at Chelsea—Nemanja Matic, Branislav Ivanovic and Eden Hazard—to name a few. Willian isn't one of them, but every time the 26-year-old speedster does don the blue shirt and take the field, he is, figuratively speaking, prepared to "kill a lion" (per the Daily Mail).

Willian is a man very much in favor at his club right now and has featured in 15 of the Blues' 17 games this term. As of now, he sits comfortably ahead of Andre Schurrle and Mohamed Salah in the pecking order for the slots in attacking midfield.

Let us rewind to the time Chelsea were preparing to host Queens Park Rangers a couple of weeks ago. Following the midweek Capital One Cup game against Shrewsbury Town, Mourinho revealed that his team selection for the weekend derby had been made easier by the inability of some of his fringe players to deliver.

Per the Telegraph, the Chelsea manager said:

"

I expect players to give me problems. I love problems. But a lot of them didn't and they've made it easy to choose my team for Saturday.

If players who played 90 minutes two days ago were fantastic I expect people who are not playing a lot to raise the level to create me problems. They didn't create me big problems.

"

Mourinho was clearly referring to the profligacy displayed by the likes of Schurrle and Salah in front of goal, as well as their general failure to impress.

This is not to take anything away from Willian, who has now started five of the last seven league games. His reward is based on merit.

Willian's obvious strengths are his pace, close control and dribbling. Looking at the bigger picture, however, it's safe to say that Chelsea are a better team with him on the pitch.

As an individual, Willian gives Chelsea balance. He has forged an exceptional understanding with Hazard and Oscar, and is often the one laying the foundations for some of that duo's more dangerous work in attack. At the same time, his defensive contributions are often critical. The likes of Branislav Ivanovic and Cesc Fabregas relish the opportunity to bomb forward on occasion. If it weren't for Willian's graft and propensity to track back when the situation demands it, the Blues would probably find themselves defensively exposed far more often.

In a nutshell, he is good on the ball and essential to the passage of play, in addition to which his work rate is immaculate.

Having said all that, the man we're examining here is an attacking midfielder by trade.

Goals and assists may not always be a reasonable yardstick for judging how well a midfielder is performing. However, for one deployed in as advanced a position as Willian, those figures cannot just be passed off as not-relevant. He must improve his decision-making in the final third, and in turn his output, to make the jump to the stratosphere of elite attacking midfielders.

As per Squawka, Willian registered merely four goals and two assists in 1677 minutes in the Premier League in 2013-14. This term, he has a total of one in each of the aforementioned categories thus far.

FourFourTwo Stats Zone app

In general, the pass that precedes an assist never goes down in the records as an assist, and that particular piece of statistic as such fails to capture a lot of things pertaining to build-up play.

Consider, for instance, Willian's sumptuous pass to Cesar Azplicueta out wide against Liverpool that led to a run to the byline by the Chelsea left-back and culminated in a goal last weekend.

Willian remains a vital cog for Chelsea in transitions, as illustrated above. However, the gist of my point remains that the former Shakhtar Donetsk man must strive to become more decisive in positions high up the pitch.

Mourinho summarized his impressions of the midfielder succinctly in the following excerpt from a recent Telegraph interview with Gary Neville:

"

I say to him: ‘You have to finish a game of 90 minutes with three shots. It’s not possible you play 90 minutes in the position you play without three shots. Three shots, two assists. It’s such amazing work you do for the team, in the build-up, in the defensive transition. You do such amazing work for the team, but with a little bit of this and a little bit of that you’ll be fantastic.

"

In the very same interview, the Portuguese gaffer discusses the likes of Damien Duff and Arjen Robben, wide players from the Chelsea side of his first stint at the helm.

As rightly pointed out by Jose, those were players with a ruthless streak, a killer instinct.

That current rival-for-a-spot Schurrle has had a considerably better goal or assist per 90 metrics ratio (courtesy Squawka) since his arrival from Bayer Leverkusen last summer only further underscores the need for Willian to work on his end product.

Squawka

Fortunate as it is, Willian recognizes his deficiencies and has every intention of remedying them, per The Independent.

There will—one hopes sooner than later—come a time when the crosses start coming in more frequently, his final ball will be up a notch, and the man will no longer hesitate to pull the trigger at the sight of goal.

Jose isn't wrong; with a little bit of this and a little bit of that, Willian will indeed be fantastic.

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