Remember when Tuchel took over from Lampard & suddenly a lot of players improved? Systems mean a lot to players & whilst some players could be improved, our systems this season have massively affected our players & not in a good way
MEGA THREAD:
MEGA THREAD:
There hasn’t been a single outfield player who has improved this season & many of them have declined, systems matter, remember how Rashford, Bruno & Shaw one minute looked like stars, then they looked poor so their fans criticised them & now under Ten Hag they’re great again?
A similar thing is occurring at Chelsea, I’m going to go through some players individually but let’s start with the collective problem first, sometimes a 4-1-5 structure has been used so not only is the DM isolated but the passing distances are to far apart
This means less time spent in the final third for the attackers, a heavy burden on our DM, & our fullbacks are basically just there not really contributing at all, I saw our CM’s & fullbacks blamed for this but they’re just doing what they’re instructed to do…
Our wingers are often asked to stay wide but so are our fullbacks which means their in the same passing lane, this not only makes us predictable but it means our wingers often receive with their back to goal, making it easier for the opposition to defend
Chelsea have also made the most changes to the starting XI & we change systems a lot so it’s really difficult for our players to build rhythm & chemistry
We also have players basically sitting on top of each other, for example Vs Fulham there were time Cucurella would overlap for Mudryk to cut in but Mount was already asked to be in that space, we also leave the right half space unoccupied quite a bit…
And since players aren’t tasked with taking up certain spaces it means either the wingers aren’t isolated or they are but the passing distances are so big it’s difficult to get the ball to them, this is particularly annoying when we have 1v1 players like Sterling & Mudryk…
So let’s get into some players, bare in my mind while you can argue some players may not be good enough regardless, they are certainly better than what they’ve shown & some of them imo are good enough anyway, it’s just the system
Let’s start with Cucurella, people have gotten onto him because of his lack of offensive output & wondered where the fullback from Brighton has gone, thing is he was never someone who was elite offensively anyway, his crosses have only gone from 0.8-0.6 per game this season
But what he is good at is defensively, higher ground duels than even Reece James, can invert into defence or midfield but he’s rarely asked to do it, in fact the only game he was allowed to invert into midfield a lot was the one game where it didn’t make sense to do so
This was bc the back 5 of West Ham matched up well vs our front 5 so Mudryk was constantly marked by Coufal so passing to him may have lead to many ball losses (remember how criticised he was for not passing to Mudryk) either RLC should’ve been asked to go forward or LB overlap
What Cucurella does lack is top ball carrying, but top managers mask the weaknesses of players, if Cucurella was allowed to invert with a good ball carrier in front of him then it works fine, we have RLC & Mount who are top ball carriers but this has only happened in ONE game
Which game was that you might ask? Wolves, & that was probably our best league performance under Potter because basic balance was in place, out of possession a 4-2-3-1 but in possession we moved into a 3-2-5 in the final third, arguably Mount’s & Cucurella’s best performance
And since Cucurella inverted into defence it also meant Kouliably could become more of a CCB, this works great for him as he hasn’t been great defending wider areas, he was never supposed to be a Rudiger replacement, he was a Christensen replacement, systems help players!
Speaking of Mount he has heavily been misused, under Tuchel he had to play as an inside winger because a lot of the players we had suited a back 3, now we have the players to play a back 4 so he can move into midfield but the way Potter asks him to play is odd
There’s still many games he’s asked to play on the wing, but sometimes unlike Tuchel, Potter asks him to stay high & wide like against Southampton (probably his worst performance in a Chelsea shirt), this season has seen a major decline for him (19/20-22/23 from top to bottom)
Imagine having someone with top ball striking, great ball carrying & great physicality to be played high & wide, it makes no sense, him & RLC could be the ball carrier that Cucurella needs but nope they’re barely asked to do so
And whilst you might not rate Mount, Gallagher or Havertz, one thing everyone should agree on is they have TOP work rate & are great pressers & yet despite that we just play passive??? We aren’t making use of their strengths
Another player who has divided opinions was Jorginho but mama Mia Potter left him out to dry, a guy who has elite ball circulation but is poor on transitions is tasked with faster football, less players in close proximity & to defend larger spaces???
Last season he averaged nearly 76 touches, he had around 20 less under Potter, in his 3 league starts for Arsenal he’s averaged 86 touches per game, Arteta & Tuchel played to his strengths, Potter played to his weaknesses, more space to defend
What’s even more annoying is we have Cucurella & James who could invert to help stop transitions similar to how Kyle Walker did but they aren’t asked to, we have Zakaria who can cover for Jorginho’s lack of physicality but he barely plays & when he does he’s asked to go forward??
Kovacic is a interesting case, on one hand his ground duels have massively declined & that could be down to all the injuries he’s had, but on the other hand is Potter giving him less responsibility? Like Jorginho less players to combine short with, sometimes asked to go forward??
Enzo is suffering as a DM & whilst I don’t blame Potter for playing him there as we don’t have one atm, the lack of players around him means he has to make more challenges which he’s losing, Mudryk is barely being left isolated
Then there’s Joao Felix, he’s been given a free role which I don’t really get because whilst he’s a top player he’s no Hazard or Messi who can carry teams, he’s sometimes asked to move into the left half space a lot but again that leaves the right half space unoccupied
Most top teams don’t use a 10 because it’s to hard to carry them out of possession these days, when you then factor in Felix’s free role leaves zones unoccupied & we don’t press aggressively he starts to become a problem both in & out of possession, top players looking poor
Most “10’s” have either become 8’s (David Silva, KDB) or false 9’s (Firmino) Felix as a false 9 would cook imo, we have wingers & midfielders that can attack space vacated, he has great ability in tight spaces, his defensive work isn’t a huge issue upfront
And one player who really suffers from this lack of work rate is Chilwell, he’s best as a wingback because of his movement in the final third but also because he can struggle defensively, the back 3 gives him an extra defender but a back 4 with Felix gives him less protection…
… from both defence & midfield, Chilwell in a back 3 or with Felix as the false 9 so another midfielder can cover Chilwell is good, but nope Potter would rather persist with Havertz upfront who doesn’t suit that role at all
Even James isn’t in his usual world class form because he’s asked to stay deeper & wide, either he should be asked to get forward to utilise his elite crossing ability or invert for his elite defensive work but with a midfielder getting forward, neither happens
Seriously for messing up James alone you know how bad the system is, how do you make arguably the best right back in the world who can invert, overlap, defend & attack to a top level look average?
Sterling was at times used as a wingback, before Felix arrived he could’ve even been deployed centrally so we had ability in between the lines like Tuchel did at the start but again Potter wouldn’t do this so both Sterling & the team struggled
Mudryk & Felix were heavily wanted by Arsenal, now we’re seeing Sterling to Arsenal links to, Arteta would’ve had those 3 cooking, under Potter our attack is dull with 6 goals in 15 games
And just look at some of the ways we could lineup! This is even without Kante & Silva who are both injured
You could use a back 3 as well, we can have Cucurella invert to protect Enzo which allows Mount/RLC to push forward & negate Cucurella’s lack of ball carrying which allows Mudryk wider to take people on 1v1 & rotate then you have Felix false 9 for ability in between the lines!
Yes there’s still issues with this team like no natural DM, GK & potentially striker & another midfielder but this team could cook with a good system, these players could cook with a good system, you’ve seen some of them under Tuchel, Sterling under Pep
Imagine Cucurella & Enzo with Pep, imagine Mount with Klopp, imagine Mudryk & Felix with Arteta, we have the players to easily fight for top 4 but instead we’re talking about avoiding the bottom 4
End of thread:
If you enjoyed then please consider giving the original tweet a like & RT or perhaps give me a follow if you want to see more threads like this, any other players you think have been affected by the system? Let me know below👇
If you enjoyed then please consider giving the original tweet a like & RT or perhaps give me a follow if you want to see more threads like this, any other players you think have been affected by the system? Let me know below👇
Tagging some people who may be interested in reading this @Potentsports @dreezyCFC @SO_livendirect @ConnCFC @matissearmani @TacticsJournal @DarkerDarks @CFCJaffs @TheBlueDodger @cfc_gem @SeunMobolaji @monstarcfc @Merkostt @cfc__daz @onth3balltv @CFC__Edd @LB23_CFC
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