As his in-form amd table-topping Chelsea side get ready to trade tackle with title rivals Manchester City, a rejuvenated Victor Moses speaks of how he found out about his new wing-back role, why he’s feeling loved again and how Chelsea can come out top at the Etihad.
It was a day that might have stuck in the mind in any case. The first training session back after being ripped apart by Arsenal. Roman Abramovich was to be at Cobham. Antonio Conte was reportedly under pressure.
Victor Moses set off for training that morning knowing it would be a big day. He had no idea how significant, no idea that, four years after he signed, this was the day his Chelsea career would truly begin.
“We were being lined up (on the training pitch) and I thought, ‘Where am I playing? Right-back? Wing-back?’” His second guess was correct. After using it to stem the tide in the final 25 minutes against Arsenal (and with huge success in and with Italy), this was the day Conte made the switch to the 3-4-3 formation which has transformed Chelsea’s season and Moses’ Stamford Bridge career.
“I’d never played the position before, never dreamed of playing it. “At that first session he was talking to me, saying, ‘This is what you’ve got to do, this is how you’re meant to play the position’. was like, ‘OK’.”
That’s his way of saying he was surprised, not sure what to make of it. But those emotions didn’t last long. Moses was man of the match in his first game in the position, as the team won and kept a clean sheet at Hull. Five more clean sheets and six more wins have followed. Standout performances and match- winning contributions from their new right wing- back have been a feature of many of them.
“It’s kind of fun,” says Moses, agreeing he’s now in the form of his life. “I get a lot of ball and I get to go one-on-one against full-backs. My first option is always to be offensive but at the same time, I’ve got to do my defensive work which hopefully I’m getting good at.”
The change of formation might have given Moses his chance, but it was earlier, in pre-season, that he began to believe that, with a new manager in place, this might be his breakthrough year in west London.
“[Conte] came up to me and said, ‘You know what, I like your football. I don’t want you to go out on loan this year’. “That gave me a big boost. I thought, ‘It’s good to have a manager like this, speaking to players, I’ve never really had it before at Chelsea’.”
It’s clear from these comments that, to put it mildly, his relationship with Jose Mourinho was not as strong as the one he has formed with Conte.
In each of the three seasons of Mourinho’s second spell, including the one he was sacked in, Moses was sent out on loan. Perhaps predictably, he didn’t feel loved.
“The toughest times were in pre-season; you know you’ve done very well and someone comes up to you and says, ‘No, you’re not in his plans, you’ve got to go on loan’.
“When a manager doesn’t have any interest in you, you can see that as a player. “There’s no point hanging around if you’re not going to play, that’s why I went on loan. “But, when you go on loan, it’s not your club, it’s totally different. I was feeling a little bit frustrated.”
During his time in semi-exile from Chelsea, Moses spent a season with each of Liverpool, Stoke and finally West Ham. He learnt something from all of them, though it was Stoke and another manager in Mark Hughes who, ‘talked to him all time’, that he enjoyed most.
There surely won’t be any more loan spells though. Chelsea’s new formation has taken them to the top of the league and Moses, in his new role, looks like an indispensable part of it. Today’s game at the Etihad against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City is likely to tell us more. For Conte’s 3-4-3, and for his new wing- back, it’s the toughest test yet.
“I think I’ll keep playing the way I’ve been playing,” says Moses. “I don’t want to change anything just because it’s a big game with more focus on it. “City are a big team, with big players. “But, if we keep working hard, I can see us achieving big things this season.”
A little over two months ago, Victor Moses drove to training a man on the periphery. The turnaround has been dramatic. Today, he’ll surely start his eighth game in a row. City will have to find a way to stop him and, given his new position, they might have to find a way past him too.
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