For All His Talents, Kurt Zouma Isn't Chelsea's Defensive Saviour

Kurt Zouma doesn't need pressure at Chelsea; he needs games and time. Yet the days are being counted down until he reaches full fitness and waltzes back into Antonio Conte's side to change their fortunes for good.

With Zouma back in blue, no longer will the goals flow in at the wrong end; defensive errors will be extinct. When the Frenchman returns, Chelsea will be a different team altogether. With Zouma at the heart of defence, Chelsea are going to be unstoppable.

If only it were that simple for Conte and Chelsea. It isn't. The club's problems run much deeper than one promising centre-back being sidelined; the Blues' problems are deep-rooted, and the expectation that Zouma is going to change much of that is alarmingly skewed.

Zouma is just 21 years old. He has played less than 40 Premier League games for Chelsea and has two senior international caps to his name with France. The club's future he may well be; their saviour he ain't.

Yet to complete a full 38-game season in Chelsea colours, Zouma remains a raw talent. There's no doubting that his rapid rise has been a reason for Blues fans to feel positive, although there is a long way to go before he can be commanding the sort of profile that, say, John Terry has at Stamford Bridge.

Indeed, it's mention of Terry that is rather apt here. When we consider what he offered in his peak years to the club, it's that exact quality that is missing from Chelsea now that he has been injured in recent weeks. The Blues have lacked direction, a leader on the pitch to piece Conte's game plan together.

It was no coincidence we saw Chelsea suffer their two worst performances and results under Conte when Terry was missing against Liverpool and Arsenal in September.

In truth, given the performance of both sides on those occasions, Chelsea would have lost those games with or without their talisman. They were second best, beaten by teams who were better equipped and prepared. The question, however, is whether those defeats would have been so damning to their cause were Terry on duty.

Chelsea were completely out of sorts; with their backs to the wall and under pressure, heads were lost, and there was little resembling anything like organisation. For a manager with Conte's reputation and beliefs, it was painful watching him from the sidelines as his team crumbled.

ADRIAN DENNIS/Getty Images

Rarely has that happened with Terry in the team, especially when he was in his prime years. We saw in the manner of how Chelsea's power was eroded last term that the 35-year-old's influence is waning with it, but even still, there isn't another player like him who has such influence from front to back at Stamford Bridge.

A failure to come close to replacing that is what has held Chelsea back in this prolonged transition the club continues to endure. It certainly hasn't been an absence of young players being injured.

A big part of this struggle to replace Terry, though, has been the fact that in order to unearth a replacement for such a significant character and presence, the former England captain has to leave Chelsea. And that's been unfathomable.

Julian Finney/Getty Images

It's only by not having Terry around that a new leader is going to emerge. Stamford Bridge isn't big enough for two of them.

The hope is that Zouma will compete for such status at some point in his career, but to expect something of him on that level now is all wrong. And when we talk about him being the missing link for Conte at the back, it's that sort of presence he will have to display.

Terry's been the benchmark for Chelsea defenders ever since Roman Abramovich arrived at the club in 2003. It's players like him that are missed, even if he is 35.

Besides, we still don't know Zouma's condition after picking up a serious knee injury in early February. There was a time when a ruptured knee ligament would end a player's career, so the 21-year-old still has it all to do in his attempts to recover fully.

Even when fit and showing the potential that has fed this frenzy around his return to fitness, Zouma's effect on Chelsea was never at the level that suggests he will re-enter the fray and transform the team's fortunes.

For instance, looking at the previous campaign right up to Chelsea's last outing without Zouma—a 2-0 victory away to Hull City ahead of the international break—there's not much to work with. We can point to factors where his presence made Chelsea stronger; equally, there were weaknesses. There was nothing that makes a strong argument for his instant inclusion.

Played	23
Goals against	27
Clean sheets	8
Won	7
Draw	8
Lost	8
Points tally	29

Conveniently, Chelsea's games pre- and post-Zouma's injury total almost the same number. Before February 2016, Zouma played 23 times in the Premier League, and with the couple of games he missed before then and the total since, the Blues have played 22 times without him.

The statistics tell a story that is too close to call when we're determining just how effective he was or will be when he is eventually back in Conte's side.

With Zouma, Chelsea conceded 27 goals in 23 games; without the Frenchman, the Blues conceded 35 in 22. So when he featured, they shipped an average of 1.17 goals per game, and without him, they conceded 1.59 on average.

Played	22
Goals against	35
Clean sheets	3
Won	9
Draw	7
Lost	6
Points tally	34

Either way, for a side that went through the 2014/15 season with an average of 0.82 goals against for the entire campaign, it doesn't make for positive reading. In fact, if we wanted to be overly critical, we could suggest that the more game time Zouma had, the statistics suggest Chelsea were weaker given that he played more in 2015/16 than he did a year earlier.

Of course, we know Chelsea's problems weren't just with the defence last season. They were team-wide, which is why the average without Zouma doesn't really tell us that much, either—especially as there isn't a sudden spike.

Here's the thing: Chelsea picked up just 29 points with the Frenchman in the team last season. Without him present in matches from August 2015 through to October 2016, the Blues have 34 points from their 22 games.

So how do we read it? Do Chelsea want to concede more goals and win more points without Zouma? Or do they want a marginally tighter defence, but pick up less points in the process?

There isn't a correct answer as the debate isn't as black and white as those questions make out. There will have been plenty of factors that render those statistics pertinent by opinion only. We can point to Diego Costa's form being better since Zouma's injury, which has won Chelsea more points; equally, a spate of defensive injuries last season made them weaker at the back, hence more goals being conceded.

The point in it all is that with or without Zouma, Chelsea have endured big problems. It hasn't been about Gary Cahill or Branislav Ivanovic; we've watched a team take a serious nose dive through factors outside of their control.

"

Conte: Kurt Zouma is fit and will play against Leicester
Vardy and Mahrez: https://t.co/Vu6ZUcOfxN

— Simon (@Thorganized) October 11, 2016"

Looking to Zouma as the answer to Conte suddenly finding a formula to cure the Blues of their ills is folly in the extreme. All it serves is to put more pressure on a player who doesn't need it.

Zouma needs to play games, regain his form and confidence. Only then can we start looking to him being Chelsea's defensive rock.

Let's not kill him.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes