Lewis Hall did very little to stand out for good or bad in Chelsea’s draw with Nottingham Forest on Saturday — and that in itself was highly impressive.
It is no small thing for any 18-year-old, almost four months after their last senior professional appearance, to start a Premier League match and not look at all out of place. Even more so when you consider that Hall, whose first-team opportunities at Chelsea have arrived almost exclusively on the left side of defence, is still learning a position he had never played prior to establishing himself in the club’s development squad.
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Hall has always been, and still very much considers himself to be, an explosive box-to-box midfielder with an eye for goal. Yet he is also mature enough to recognise that opportunity does not always arrive in the form you expect. “It is good to have that versatility so when the manager needs an option, it gives you an advantage in being selected,” he said in an interview with Chelsea’s official website this week.
There could be no greater validation of that attitude than the circumstances of Hall’s senior debut in an FA Cup third round tie against Chesterfield in January 2022. Thomas Tuchel deployed the teenager on the left of a back three, a position he had never been asked to play in any team at any level on his journey through the age groups at Cobham. Hall responded by setting up a goal for Romelu Lukaku in a 5-1 win and was named man of the match.
Tuchel trusted that Hall would rise to the challenge because of what he had seen consistently in first-team training sessions: a composure when flung in amid experienced international footballers that had proven unshakeable regardless of circumstances or the area of the pitch in which he found himself. There were practice games that even saw him trialled at right-back.
Another of Hall’s attributes that caught Tuchel’s eye and frequently earned the head coach’s praise was the crispness of his technique — a quality that immediately became evident to many others when he earned his first real minutes under successor Graham Potter in November.
Deployed at left-back in an EFL Cup tie against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, Hall got the better of fellow England youth international Rico Lewis in several memorable sequences that also served to underline his unorthodox, midfielder’s interpretation of the full-back role with the ball at his feet.
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Twice in the first half when pressed by Lewis as he received the ball in his own half, Hall escaped pressure by bursting infield rather than down the line.
On this first occasion, he has the space to change direction relatively easily, dropping a shoulder and then driving with the ball well into the City half before a loose touch results in him being dispossessed:
On the second occasion, Lewis closes the gap more quickly, but Hall still manages to repeat the trick by shifting the ball sharply from his left to his right foot and then bursting into the space vacated by Rodri as he tracks Christian Pulisic. He is eventually fouled and wins a free kick.
Carrying the ball in from the touchline like this is not the instinct of a conventional full-back, but Hall has the comfort and skill level in possession to make it work.
One of the only bright moments for Chelsea in a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of City in the FA Cup on January 8 was Hall, picked again at left-back, dribbling diagonally towards a seemingly impenetrable wall of opponents…
… and instead putting Rodri on his backside by faking to dribble left before jinking right:
The most interesting thing about all this is that, while Hall may not see himself as a full-back, the very nature of the full-back position in elite teams is evolving.
This season, Oleksandr Zinchenko has played a vital role in Arsenal’s surprise Premier League title challenge by switching between central midfield in possession and left-back out of it, while Lewis has at times performed in a similar fashion for Pep Guardiola on City’s right flank. Most recently, Jurgen Klopp appears to have revitalised both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Liverpool’s attack by shifting him into a hybrid role that gets him on the ball more centrally.
Whether or not Hall follows a similar path at Chelsea will depend in no small part on how Mauricio Pochettino decides to set his team up at Stamford Bridge next season. The Argentine has typically favoured more conventionally attacking full-backs who provide attacking width with frequent, aggressive overlapping runs.
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Hall has shown numerous encouraging flashes of being suited to that, too. He is a gifted athlete and a powerful runner, capable of gaining separation from opponents over short and long distances. These physical tools allow him to provide timely support in the final third. The timing of his arrivals into the penalty area suggests he is a player capable of contributing goals.
In another sequence from his first outing against City, Hall plays a short pass infield to Mateo Kovacic to escape pressure from Lewis and then immediately spins behind his opponent:
Kovacic finds Pulisic and as the American advances, look at the space Hall has put between himself and Lewis as he races upfield on the overlap:
Later in the same game, Hall again bursts forward into space on the left to join a Chelsea counter-attack as Lewis has been drawn inside. The ball finds him and, as Lewis races to recover, he has the presence of mind to eliminate the defender from the equation by sharply checking onto his right foot — a move that turns a good shooting chance into a great one:
His quick shot is not badly aimed towards the near post, but it lacks power and City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega saves it with an outstretched leg:
Hall has since made improving his finishing a point of emphasis, practising every day at Cobham. “With the under-23s, they’re all really good keepers but they’re still learning,” he added. “Anything in the corners, if you get it right, it’s usually a goal.
“In the first team, when you get the top-level keepers, you also must hit it with some power because of their reflexes, the way they are able to stretch and dive around, and their anticipation — it’s elite level. You’ve got to hit it hard as well with accuracy.”
Scoring begins with arriving in the penalty area at the right time and Hall’s instincts appear solid on that front.
Here, against Forest on Saturday, he capitalises on a collapsing opposition defence to receive a Trevoh Chalobah cross in a sea of space on the edge of the box. On this occasion, he is a little slow getting the ball out of his feet and his goal-bound effort is blocked:
Hall has also flashed the ability to create attacking danger as a crosser. Here he tempts Serge Aurier in before nicking the ball past him and surging down the line…
… and then manages to dig out a cross on the run which finds the only Chelsea player in the box, Joao Felix, to direct a header on target:
Hall has only made one senior appearance in midfield, in Chelsea’s goalless draw with Liverpool at Anfield on January 21. It was, by his own admission, probably his weakest performance — at times struggling with his decision-making and technical execution against a typically fierce high press from Klopp’s side.
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Yet it was noticeable that, even in a hostile away atmosphere, the teenager never stopped showing to receive the ball from Chelsea’s defenders. When the rare opportunity arose to break Liverpool’s lines, he was still prepared to try riskier passes — like this one, which he squeezes between three opponents into the feet of Mason Mount:
Hall, who is contracted at Stamford Bridge until 2025, has lost the ball in bad areas at times — most notably trying to dribble his way out of danger in the lead-up to Willian’s opening goal for Fulham in January — but the majority of his errors in a Chelsea shirt to date have sprung from having the personality to try things on the pitch.
His long-term viability as a left-back will also depend on how well he can defend the position, and while there have been some dicey moments in one vs one situations — particularly against Riyad Mahrez at the Etihad — there have also been sequences that suggest he has the tools to reach the level required.
Take this one against Newcastle in November: Miguel Almiron drags Hall out towards the right touchline before laying the ball back to Kieran Trippier. The aim is to latch on to a quick return pass in the space behind the Cobham graduate, and Mateo Kovacic is not close enough to help:
Hall, however, snuffs it out incredibly quickly — turning towards Almiron to slow his run a little without fouling, then beating the Paraguay international to the ball with a controlled slide:
The World Cup came at a bad time for Hall, placing an artificial pause on his breakthrough. Ben Chilwell’s return from injury, coupled with the mounting pressure that Potter felt in his final weeks, did not help either. Yet he is still on course to reach a milestone cited within the Chelsea academy as a significant benchmark of progression: 10 senior appearances in a season.
Hall’s total currently stands at eight, seven of which have been starts and six in the Premier League. The value of those minutes might even be amplified by the fact his opponents have included City (three times), Liverpool and Newcastle. He could well face the treble-chasing English champions again this weekend and Newcastle for a second time on the final day of the season, with Manchester United at Old Trafford in between.
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Player development is rarely linear and Hall’s next step is unclear. Should he go on loan next season to continue to rack up senior minutes? Among the clubs who have signalled interest in him to Chelsea there is, perhaps unsurprisingly, no clear consensus about his best position.
All paths are open for Hall and, at 18, time is very much on his side. What is clear is that even if it has not played out in the manner most expected, 2022-23 has been a big step forward.
(Top photo: Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)