Armando Broja is a player that I have always appreciated and valued, even when he was in the academy.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always seen elements of his game that need improvement, and those elements are still there. He’s always been about developing and moving forward, and at the moment he’s not doing that.
We need to take into account his major injury, but there also seems to be a bigger issue hindering him: mentality and confidence.
Some players are trustworthy players and it seems that Broja is one of them. He seems to beat himself up and get angry on the field when things don’t go well or he receives a decision against him. And Mauricio Pochettino even pointed this out over the weekend.
After Broja scored against Preston on Saturday, Pochettino said:
“It’s very important for him, but I have to be honest, I think he needs to use this type of game to score a goal, feel the net and improve. Improve not only his physical fitness or work ethic ability, but also his body language. He needs to step up and move on, smile and be a little more positive.”
And this is what I love about Poch, its human management. He is right here, and it needed to be said.
Broja has also reacted positively and agrees with the coach.
To those words from Poch, Broja responded:
“I have had many conversations with the manager.
“I felt like I was going through a pretty difficult period recovering from my injury. Being away from the team for so long and not being involved, you could say I felt depressed with everything that was going on.”
“Once I came back, I felt a lot more like myself. I still feel like there is so much more to come from me. And, like the boss says, I can make my body language more positive.
“Sometimes I’m a little hard on myself. That’s because I expect a lot from myself and I know what I’m capable of. The manager is just trying to take that weight off my shoulders and relax me a little.
“I’m trying to follow that advice because he’s been helping me every day. I just need to smile more and be a little more positive.”
Once again, this is all accurate and positive because you have both let off steam and expressed those feelings.
It’s clear that Broja has been suffering a bit mentally since returning from his injury, and is also clearly feeling the pressure of playing up front for Chelsea.
Broja continued: “When you have a career where you don’t score much, you can get a little depressed. It’s not the best feeling, but scoring a goal in a game like this [Preston] makes up for it.
“Of course, it was very important for me and also for the game. It was a great job by Misha (Mykhailo Mudryk) to play against Malo (Gusto) and a great delivery by Malo. I tried to understand it and it wasn’t a bad headbutt.
“It’s our job: we get paid to score goals. It’s what everyone sees in a striker, someone who scores goals. It’s difficult because everyone expects you to score in every game but there have been great players who haven’t.
“The result comes first but personally I love scoring goals. I am a striker; “It’s something I love to do.”
And again he is right: he is a forward and a forward must score goals. The pressure will also always be much greater at Chelsea: time does not wait for Chelsea.
Also nowadays, you see players on their phones all the time, before and after games in the locker room, and all the time. Naturally, you will see criticism and abuse. Some players will be affected, others not so much.
Broja clearly sees the criticism of recent times, it can be seen in some of her Instagram posts asking for patience, etc. But this is all part of being a modern footballer and it will never go away, it is all part of it now and there will only be one way to respond to the critics, with your feet on the pitch: prove them wrong.
I’ll end this by going back to my initial points: I rate Broja, but I just don’t think she’s developing to where she needs to be and still needs to improve on the elements she’s missing. Can he get there? Of course he can, he’s still only 22 (recently).
He needs to improve his hold-up game first and foremost because he’s 6-foot-3 and a physical guy, but he lacks touch and the ball doesn’t tend to stick to him like it should. He also needs to get his head up and drop the ball a little earlier at times.
I think if he can hone that side of his game then he can be a top striker, and the irony of course is that he is exactly the kind of structure we need and the kind of physical presence that Pochettino loves. He could be a perfect striker for Pochettino if he imposes more of his presence and improves both in the air and on the back.
We know he can score goals and that for me is confidence more than anything else. But if he can improve some of his decision-making and get back into goal play, then I still think he can be a good striker.
Could that be at Chelsea? Well, in my opinion, it all depends on the next few weeks. But I keep faith in Broja because he is a player I have watched a lot in the Cobham ranks and I see potential in him. But the question is whether he can develop and convert that potential into consistency and a more complete forward who he plays with confidence.
