Chelsea vs Everton tactical analysis (better late than never)
THREAD:
THREAD:
Chelsea lined up in a 3-4-3 with Everton on paper lining up in a 4-1-4-1, but in most phases it was more of a 4-4-2 with Chelsea’s shape also changing at times as well (I would like to add Chelsea’s passing map was very good as was the performance for 60 minutes)
To better understand why we did what we did it’s important to understand what Everton were trying to do, Everton’s aim was to use their 2 strikers to force a pass forward into one of our 2 CM’s, when we did that was the trigger for their CM’s to press
To counter this Potter moved Kovacic deeper into something of a lone pivot role whilst Pulisic would drop deeper to act like a 3rd midfielder for a 3v2, since Everton’s defence didn’t follow Pulisic deeper, their midfield couldn’t engage Kovacic, leading to us keeping possession
Here’s a good example, Onana presses Enzo to force him backwards but Gueye goes from being close to Kovacic to backing off & allowing him time on the ball because of Pulisic dropping deep, Everton couldn’t get the ball so they couldn’t create anything
Ofc because we had a spare man at the back it meant they had time & space to look for switches, however McNeil tracked James like his life depended on it, if he doesn’t track him here James has all the time & space to look for a cross, but Dyche didn’t allow him time at all
Everton attempted to press high from goal kicks, McNeil moved onto Fofana & Iwobi moved onto Chilwell whilst the midfielders & defence picked up the spare men, not a spare man is left in the build up & it forced us long at times
But here’s the importance of the keeper coming out in possession, Kepa steps up attracting Doucoure & with 2 simple passes Koulibaly is free, then Pulisic drops deeper & again the Everton defence doesn’t follow (better pass from Felix & we might score)
Everton look to build short from goal kicks, however unlike in previous games one of our fullbacks would actually look to press their fullback high which left them no spare men to pass to, this lead to a much better press & we won the ball back a lot more
Here’s an example of it, James on Godfrey & Pulisic on Coleman, everyone else takes up their men for no spare man
However unlike Dyche our defenders were actually willing to step up so their forwards didn’t have time on the ball, in this example Fofana gives away a foul but that’s an individual mistake, this tactic worked overall throughout the game
I had only one problem with this press, it was more aggressive than Dyche’s but it didn’t fully commit to the aggressiveness, here Chilwell follows Iwobi but then for some reason leaves him to Enzo as Iwobi drops away from his position, Enzo now leaves his man & then he’s found
Here it is in full time, Kova presses higher whilst keeping his man in his cover shadow, there’s no space for Everton to work with until Chilwell steps off, whatever the reason is for this it has to stop, you must commit to the press, it’s a team effort
When Everton were defending deep then Doucoure would drop deeper leaving 1 striker upfront, a 3v1 at the back isn’t necessary so Fofana would step forward at times to make a 2-3-5 shape to relieve pressure, this leads to Felix receiving the ball in the box
Fofana would also step out at times to drag an Everton midfielder with him so the midfielder they were supposed to be marking could receive in more space, they could then look to switch play to find the spare man as we had a 5v4 vs their last line
So why couldn’t Chelsea score despite our dominance? For me there’s 4 reasons, the first is it was a wingback receiving wide instead of a winger, the reason the likes of Pep, Arteta & De Zerbi use inverted fullbacks is because wingers are more likely to beat their man than FB’s
The second was poor decision making/lack of patterns, Kova plays the ball into Havertz who has attracted McNeil, if Kai plays the pass back into Fofana he can then play in James who has time & space to find a man in the box, instead Kai takes a long shot
The third reason is a bit more arguable but I think we lacked a natural strikers instincts, the reason Haaland scores so many tap ins is because he can “smell” the goal, Felix reacts late to the slight Chilwell touch here
The final reason was because if Pulisic dropped deeper then we only had a 4v4 vs their last line of defence, it was a great move to retain possession but not to penetrate the Everton defence, in the 2nd half this was fixed by Felix moving behind their double pivot
Here’s an example of it in the second half, Felix drops deeper to pick up the ball in the hole, he finds Pulisic & the Everton defence shuffle across to there isn’t a 2v1 down the left, but this leaves James free on the other side
This leads to the first goal, Felix drops behind the Everton double pivot & grabs their attention so Enzo receives with time & space, he play a lovely switch to Chilwell who is free thanks to Pulisic attracting Coleman, Felix arrives from deep to score
The camera from above shows a good angle of the off the ball movement, Pulisic has moved from a wider postion to infield to drag Coleman across, look how much space both Enzo & Chilwell have, the back line are occupied with the forwards & wingbacks so Felix has so much space
There was rotations but the job of the player in each zone was the same, Pulisic striker & dropped deeper, Kai left & Felix right, Pulisic drops deeper & drags a defender with him for Felix to run into, offside due to a delayed pass but the idea is good
Some people have asked why Potter plays Havertz so much & I think work rate is the reason why, his interception here leads to the penalty which puts us back in the lead
We fell off after min 60, Gallagher on for Pulisic in that half winger role & whilst this does increase the work rate, it decreases the technical security which you need to play in this role, Gallagher’s turnover leads to the corner Everton score
In the same passage of play you can see our pressing has turned passive again, Kovacic doesn’t engage his midfielder & Chilwell doesn’t engage Coleman either which leads to a free carry up the field, I don’t like that we turn passive early
Chelsea also give up going short from goal kicks & aim to overload one side of the pitch & go long in the hopes of winning second balls to retain possession
The best teams know how to see out a game, they’ll keep going sideways & backwards in order to retain possession as opposed to risky passes, however we start playing like we’re 2-1 down instead of 2-1 up, Chilwell twice tries a risky pass & Kepa goes long
End of thread
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