How Frank Lampard copied Jose Peseiro's Iwobi trick against Chelsea

Everton and Chelsea clashed at Goodison Park on Saturday evening in their first game of the new Premier League season.

The score ended 1-0 in favour of the Blues with Italian midfielder Jorginho scoring the decisive goal via a penalty.

Super Eagles star Alex Iwobi was named in the Toffees' first starting line-up with the ex-Hale End Academy graduate completing the full ninety minutes of the game.

Iwobi had a great game and was a key tempo-setter in the Everton team. However, one key decision from Frank Lampard enabled the midfielder to perform at such a high level.

The Chelsea legendary midfielder copied Nigeria manager Jose Peseiro and repurposed Iwobi as a deep-lying playmaker partnered with a natural defensive midfielder Doucoure.

This is reminiscent of the first matches of Peseiro's reign with the Super Eagles where he partnered Iwobi with Joe Aribo and then Oghenekaro Etebo with Iwobi performing outstandingly.

Since Lampard's arrival at the Toffees last season, he utilised Iwobi as a right wing-back to a fairly good degree of success.

However, the Nigerian's skill set does not lie in a defensive role at all. Iwobi is a great ball-carrier and is also good when dribbling. He loves to pick little pockets of space to connect attacking sequences.

In this new role, he is able to express his creativity and use his agility to evade pressure whilst also developing the positional discipline needed to play in deep areas.

Lampard needs to continue Peseiro's experiment/adjustment with Iwobi's positioning and try to improve him in the role.

This could unlock the former Arsenal man's talents and finally allow him achieve the heights his talents suggest in the Premier League.

Sofoluwe Mayowa

Photo Credit : evertonfc.com

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