17 Jan 2022 13:42:52
Just a thought on our ongoing fluidity issues with the front 3, in particular the 2 either side of the central position. Has anyone else noticed Tuchel has started to favour players playing with their more favoured foot on the outside?
For example, against City, Pulisic played on the right and Ziyech on the left. Firstly, Ziyech when he played for Ajax was predominantly a right sided playmaker who's game is built around drifting centrally onto his strongest foot. Pulisic has played across the front line for both Dortmund and Chelsea but in my opinion, has delivered more consistent performances for Chelsea coming from the left hand side. During the game, both players naturally wanted to come inside.
It's worth noting that Chelsea are fairly fluid in their positioning on the ball but a few of our most dangerous moments came from the rare occasions that Ziyech found himself on the right. With Walker and Cancelo both possessing a good level of pace, we were unlikely to have much joy beating them on the outside anyway.
This is obviously a tactical move and could be partly related to the absence of Chilwell and James who, in my opinion, are better suited to an overlap attacking style than Alonso and Azpi who tend to drift inside themselves.
Regardless of what you think of Lukaku, i feel he benefits from linking up with players closer to him, probably to make up for his poor passing technique and first touch. I think with Ziyech on the right, to provide a link between the CM's/ FW's and Pulisic on the left playing closer to Lukaku / attacking space inside between Walker and Stones (which other teams have done to good effect) would have been a better attacking strategy at the weekend
Then again, there's a reason why i'm sitting int he stand and Tuchel is a CL winner but just thought i'd open a discussion . Not forgetting Mount in all this too, who now usually plays from the right, but that's for another time.
17 Jan 2022 15:56:10
Good comment OD94; I must also add that, I don’t think Tuchel has being playing C. Pulisic in his strongest position for some time now, I think it will prove counterproductive to both Pulisic’s productivity, his development and to Chelsea in the long run. Game after game, I am not seeing the ability of Pulisic shine through based on what we all know of his ability. I know we have wingback issues but I still think TT has to look at the attack.
17 Jan 2022 17:00:08
Well argued by both of you, thanks for the constructive posts re Pulisic who most of us know when at his best - as last seven to ten games of Lampard's first season, and before he got injured in FA Cup final, was rightly being hailed as world class.
17 Jan 2022 18:27:01
Obinna123;
Whilst we are on the subject of Pulisic, he's a player who has shown the ability to be a match-winner on his day, but severely lacks consistency. Whether that's down to playing in a variety of positions, i don't know. The overarching issue with him is his lack physicality and ability to ride a challenge. I feel if he can improve this side of his game, i think we would see a different Pulisic.
However, there does seem to be a wider issue with Chelsea's wide players (no pun intended) . In my opinion, i feel we have an unbalanced set of players for these positions with the majority of them (including Mount) more suited to playing from the left (with Ziyech being the exception) . I doubt Chelsea see Mount as a wide player long term, but i have included him in the group because of where TT plays him 99% of the time. Add Havertz into the mix also, who seems to be an anomaly at this stage. The underlying theme with these players is their consistency. Whether that's to do with their age (excluding Ziyech and arguably Werner), experience or ability is something for others to debate. It seems Chelsea are aware some changes need to be made with one of the Ed's hinting they are willing to shuffle the pack. I wouldn't be surprised if we went for a more established/ experienced player.
Going back to my original post, i do think that both James and Chilwell are key to the team and are part of the reason we have dropped a level recently. Interestingly though, our best game (arguably) since then was the home game against Spurs in the cup (2-0). In possession, Chelsea were effectively playing a 4-2-2-2 with Jorginho + Saul, Mount + Ziyech and Havertz (Werner) + Lukaku. Out of possession, it reverted to a back 5 with Ziyech dropping in as a RWB. I think this setup suited the individual qualities of the 4x forward players in particular, Mount, who was effectively playing as left sided no.8/ no.10, and Ziyech who was able to play his more suited roaming playmaking role from the right and ended up having one of his best games in blue. On top of that, it allowed Havertz and then Werner to play closer to Lukaku and on the night, we looking pretty dangerous. With that being said, major questions can be asked of Spurs as well who are not in their best moment.
I am surprised that TT didn't use this approach against City, although i don't think it really supports having both Kovacic and Kante. Whilst i was watching the game, i thought we could have tried the following which in my opinion utilises the strengths of our wide players and used some of the principles from the Spurs game -
1. My first suggestion of playing Ziyech from the right to link CM/ FW and Pulisic from the left to attack the space between the FB/ CB and support Lukaku. Potentially changing Pulisic for Werner or Havertz later on.
2. Substituting both Ziyech and Pulisic for Jorginho and Havertz/ Werner and going with 3x CM's and 2x FW's, which we did against Spurs in the league last year. Firstly, i think Jorginho may have helped with breaking City's press whilst being protected by Kante and Kovacic off the ball. Secondly, Werner/ Havertz would have provided a link to Lukaku and given Stones and Laporte something different to think about. This setup would have required more attacking responsibility though from both Kante and Kovacic (due to Alonso's and Azpi's lack of mobility) who i think are extremely strong in quick attacking transitions which could of exploited the space around Rodri and his lack of pace covering those areas. For non counter attacking moves, we would have had more players in midfield to try and pass our way up the field for crossing opportunities but now with 2x players in the box.
Interested to see how we set up against Brighton tomorrow.
17 Jan 2022 19:32:17
It's done to suit Lukaku to get crosses into the box IMO but to no avail. I haven't been impressed by either, I'd happily see all three of them moved on, but then again, it's not FIFA.
17 Jan 2022 22:50:30
4222 with Ziyech on the RAM, Mount as LAM. Potentially 4 strikers Lukaku, Werner, Havertz and CHO. 4 CMs in rotation Kante, Jorgihno, Kovacic and Saul. Back up RB is a problem. LB 2 in rotation Alonso and Sarr. 4 CBs Silva, Rüdiger, Christensen and Chalobah. Pulisic as LAM in rotation and CHO RAM in rotation. Basically player like Raphihna could provide rotation to Ziyech.
17 Jan 2022 23:14:12
Lukaku doesn’t want crossers he wants it fired into him at the edge of the box and for a start there’s on chilwell that is able to cross a ball and maybe James on his day the rest are awful.
17 Jan 2022 23:21:51
OD94; I agree with you.
dadubliner; besides putting crosses into the box for Lukaku, I also feel that TT might have been concerned about Cancelo’s threat hence him (TT) playing Pulisic on RAM position would keep Cancelo occupied.
I knew we would hardly beat Manchester City without mobile wingbacks but on watching the game again, I think I agree with Tuchel that it came down to small details. I think the ability of our ‘top’ players didn’t come through in the game, which is why I agree with your analysis OD94.
18 Jan 2022 15:17:18
The notion that Lukaku wants or would in some way benefit from high crosses into the box is wrong.
It wants the ball played either in front of him or down the either side.
Ziyech is a crosser of a ball so how he was ever picked to play alongside Lukaku was bizzare.
18 Jan 2022 17:37:26
I am sorry to say it but Lukaku has got to sit up, he seems to lack the fighting spirit and work ethic of a top striker. Again TT was absolutely right about him loosing a lot of balls under no pressure.