MOSES
The transition of Victor Moses from marauding forward to
defensive-minded wing-back has been something of a miracle move by Chelsea
manager Antonio Conte.
The player has been wandering in the
wilderness for the four years of his Stamford Bridge contract.
Not even 10
goals in his debut season following a £9million move from Wigan — signed by
short-term manager Roberto Di Matteo — was deemed good enough and loan spells
at Liverpool, Stoke and West Ham have come in the previous three seasons.
At 25-years-old, many players would
have decided it was probably time to move on, but Conte arrived and Moses got
his head down once again and the transformation has been spectacular. Even the
Italian has been taken aback.
'I think Moses is a great surprise
in this aspect because we know him as a winger, but I think he's playing in a
fantastic way,' Conte said after he shined once again in their victory against
Southampton, overshadowed only by the resurgence of Eden Hazard and Diego
Costa, who both scored.
'I think that this role is very
important in this system,' Conte added. 'You must have good stamina and quality
to play as a wing-back. I ask my wing-backs to do offensive and defensive
duties.'
Moses's resilience, however, should shock no-one. He coped
with trauma at 12-years-old that no child should have to endure.
His parents — father Austin, a
Christian pastor, and mother Josephine, who worked with him — were murdered in
their home back in Nigeria when religious tensions between Muslims and
Christians erupted into violence in 2002. Moses, who was also at risk, escaped
to England and was taken in by a foster family in south London.
VICTOR MOSES CV
2007-10: Crystal Palace
69 apps, 11 goals
2010-12: Wigan Athletic
80 apps, 9 goals
2012-Present: Chelsea
54 apps, 13 goals
2013-14 (loan at Liverpool)
22 apps, 2 goals
2014-15: (loan at Stoke)
23 apps, 4 goals
2015-16: (loan at West Ham)
26 apps, 2 goals
It was why he was spotted by Crystal
Palace playing football in Norbury Park. They got him a place at the
prestigious Whitgift school where he proved a prolific striker. There was no
tracking back to pick up the opposition winger then.
He captained their Under 14s to the
FA Youth Cup in 2005 and hit all five in the final past a Grimsby side all in
red. The Grimsby Evening Telegraph wrote a story
on the match with the headline: 'Holy Moses – wonder player parts red sea.'
Moses made his Championship debut
for Palace at 16, but they sold him to Wigan two-and-a-half years later after
falling into administration. Chelsea bought him a few years after that when
they wanted the best young attacking midfielders. Hazard, the same age, and
Oscar, a year younger, signed with him that summer.
Moses has always scored wherever he
has been but not as prolifically as in his youth. Yet Conte has spotted
attributes in him that he desires for those crucial wing-back positions in his
unorthodox 3-4-3 formation.
Moses is rapid, has seemingly endless reserves of stamina and is actually not
bad at defending despite his relative inexperience. His ability to turn
defending into a blistering attack by dribbling with the ball was evident
several times against Southampton.
'I have not played there before,'
Moses said on Sunday night. 'I have just got to listen to what the manager asks
me to do in that position, and the way he wants me to do it.
'Every game we play I just want to
keep on improving. The more games you play, the more experience you get in that
position. I'm really relishing it at the moment and enjoying it.
'We want to make sure we don't get
caught sleeping in a game. Every day in training the manager is on top of us to
make sure we are solid at the back. It's looking good for us at the moment, but
we have to keep our feet firmly on the floor.'
One feels Moses has no difficulty in
remaining humble, wherever he is playing or whatever the circumstances.
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