Relentless and direct - Jefferson Montero tore Branislav Ivanovic apart on Saturday night.
In a performance reminiscent of last year’s destruction of Calum Chambers, Ecuadorian winger Jefferson Montero faced the best defence of the 2014/15 season and more notably right-back Branislav Ivanovic.
Montero was the key catalyst in earning a well-deserved point against champions Chelsea. Running past and beyond the Chelsea backline Montero continuously created opportunities to cross the ball into his fellow teammates. Not long before one of these chances was turned into a goal, Montero found more space on the left and whipped a cross into Bafatimbi Gomis, who’s header could only be parried to new boy Ayew who then took his time to make it 1-1.
Montero easily triumphed in the 1v1 all afternoon so much that the Serbian fullback was always in need of assistance from Fabregas and Terry. The problem from Mourinho wasn’t that he didn’t notice Montero’s dominance on the left side but that he didn’t have the personnel on the bench to deal with it.
Montero was the key catalyst in earning a well-deserved point against champions Chelsea. Running past and beyond the Chelsea backline Montero continuously created opportunities to cross the ball into his fellow teammates. Not long before one of these chances was turned into a goal, Montero found more space on the left and whipped a cross into Bafatimbi Gomis, who’s header could only be parried to new boy Ayew who then took his time to make it 1-1.
Montero easily triumphed in the 1v1 all afternoon so much that the Serbian fullback was always in need of assistance from Fabregas and Terry. The problem from Mourinho wasn’t that he didn’t notice Montero’s dominance on the left side but that he didn’t have the personnel on the bench to deal with it.
In only 70 minutes, Montero outperformed every attacker on the pitch; including Hazard. The 25 year-old made more successful dribbles than any player during the whole weekend (not counting Monday’s match between West Brom and Man City) – completing 6/8 dribbles. He provided more crosses and won more 50/50 duels than any Chelsea player during the match – 7 and 10 respectively.
When Monk was asked about Montero destroying Ivanovic, he said “I see that every day. I fear for our full-backs in training more”. Montero is the kind of attacking player that many teams in the league lack, his pace combined with his direct style of running at full-backs is what I’d like to see a lot more pacey wingers incorporate in their games more. If he had stayed on the full 90 then the possibility of Swansea picking up all 3 points would have been significantly higher.
For me, Branislav Ivanovic – Premier League’s best right back of the 2014/15 season – is extremely overrated and isn’t defensively tested near enough as he should be. The only thing untypical about Ivanovic’s performance on Saturday was that he had to deal with the relentlessly direct Jefferson Montero, and he didn’t even come close to ‘dealing’ with him.