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When you are signed for a British transfer record £115million it is never going to be easy to live up to the expectations placed on your shoulders.

And with the internet the way it is nowadays, where every minor mistake is picked up, recorded and viewed millions of times around the world, footballers are scrutinised more than ever. Especially the top-class players – with rival supporters, who are largely envious that said player is representing another club – wanting to stick it to their rival fans online.

So for Moises Caicedo's sake, let's hope he did not look online too much on Saturday evening. The Ecuadorian midfielder lost possession at Stamford Bridge on 48 minutes which led to Nottingham Forest scoring the only goal of the game as Chelsea fell to defeat for the second time in four matches in the Premier League.

It seemed to be a mix-up between Caicedo and his midfield acquaintance Conor Gallagher and it proved costly. Around six days before, the 21-year-old put in his best performance in a Chelsea shirt to date in the 3-0 win against Luton Town. In that match, the box-to-box midfielder was everywhere across the pitch and helped his side both in an attacking and defensive sense.

Against Forest, however, he was not at his best. He gave away the ball on five separate occasions from passes. One of them of course led to Anthony Elanga's goal, while the other two, on another day, could have seen Chelsea and the midfielder punished.

Chelsea have not paid £115m for Caicedo for his passing range – they already have that in abundance with Enzo Fernandez. But at home against Forest, a bit more calmness and composure in midfield is needed, particularly when the visitors were playing a low-block and looking for those sloppy passes to break on the hosts.

READ MORE: Chelsea 2023/24 Premier League player ratings – Sterling and Fernandez shine, Caicedo slow

There is certainly more in an attacking sense that meets the eye in Caicedo's game, though, and he has found some clever spaces in his opening three games for Chelsea. Gallagher has been playing in a deeper role as essentially the No.6 for Mauricio Pochettino this season and has excelled in doing so but this isn't his natural position and he isn't the ball-winning destroyer that Caicedo perhaps needs behind him to free him up a little bit more.

Romeo Lavia, though, is just that. The 19-year-old, who is yet to feature for Chelsea since signing for £58m last month, is a natural defensive-minded midfield player who thrives out of possession but is also very neat and tidy while on the ball – making him, in theory, the perfect midfielder for Pochettino's Chelsea.

He isn't a natural goal scorer by any means, Caicedo, but what he does offer is the third man runs Chelsea sometimes need in the box, especially against a team as defensively-focused as Forest were at the weekend. The images below are taken from Brighton's 5-2 win against Leicester City just over 12 months ago where Caicedo scored his only goal of the season for the Seagulls.

Alexis Mac Allister and Pascal Gross were playing alongside Caicedo that day with the former essentially the No.6 for a side managed by Graham Potter back then. Mac Allister, who actually scored two goals on the day at the Amex Stadium, was the man sitting back, focused on defending, while Caicedo and Gross attacked a bit more and offered the engine room in midfield.

Caicedo is a box-to-box midfielder and having someone willing to sit like Mac Allister, or Lavia in this instance, allows the Ecuadorian to truly unleash his potential. As good as Gallagher has been this season, albeit that we're only four games in, he does like to also bomb on forward which means sometimes Caicedo is restricted.

Whereas having Lavia in the side, who sits just in front of the back-four, will free Caicedo to have a more advanced role in the side. Lavia is close to returning to action and could be available for selection after the two-week international break, so perhaps this is something Pochettino may want to try.

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