The best thing about Thomas Tuchel’s tenure at Chelsea has been his ability to recognize the skill sets of his players and utilizing them in ways that fit them best leading to the current run of success. The downside is that he has a system that hasn’t allowed for creativity enough to truly create any real sort of breakthrough with this team so far. The players look confident, which is great; Mateo Kovacic, until today, looks well at home in his role, finally understanding where he’s supposed to be and of course Marcos Alonso came in from the cold to essentially usurp the left back spot from big signing Ben Chilwell. Tuchel clearly favors experience over youth, though Callum Hudson-Odoi recent run of form up until Frank Lampard firing, necessitated his run in the first team. Today, in a big game, in a slew of upcoming big games, showed the exacerbated qualities of this team that’s still trying to understand each other, along with having a new manager and failing to execute to the best of their abilities.
Mason Mount has largely been the best Chelsea player this season and consistently performs at a high level compared to anyone else on the team. Tuchel seemed reticent at first to use him, but now employs him regularly at his preferred position. Oddly enough, Tuchel, still playing around with things, put him in a central role, with forward plans that also involved a presence on the wing, something Mount hasn’t always done the best with in terms of coming through from an offensively creative standpoint. With Kai Havertz just a shell at this point, Mount’s role as the number 10 midfielder developed earlier this season and with Lampard he solidified his defined position within the team. Today, he looked lost, though still played with maximum effort, as his other attacking, central partner, Hakim Ziyech apparently forgot how to play soccer. The formation, a 1-2-4-3 gave changes to other players to show their skill sets, but at the cost of Mount, Ziyech and Kovacic who each looked out of place in Tuchel’s too cute role of the dice lineup. Fortunately, Ben Chilwell came shot out of cannon today after being unceremoniously cast aside and blended with Mount’s game on that side. They in tandem were far too much for Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Mason Greenwood, regularly generating offensive press and beating defenders with their chemistry. Chilwell, a natural left wing back for Tuchel, made his presence known defensively providing stability where Alonso’s recent lack of discernible defensive abilities created a vulnerability on that side in previous matches. I’m glad the system affords Alonso a chance where Lampard’s didn’t, however Chilwell can do everything Alonso does so I’m hoping today showed Tuchel who the starter should be on that side of the field.
Onto Hakim Ziyech, who today looked like a D3 US college soccer player in the Premier League with poor first touches, bad passes and a lost sense of that magical touch on his left foot. I know he’s dealt with injuries this season, constantly battling nips and tucks. It just seems psychological at this point with and with Kai Havertz, the problem is that Ziyech has plenty of experience at 28 to overcome these types of issues and play himself into form quickly, as he did early in the season when came back from injury. Tuchel gave him time (he subbed out in the 78th minute) despite his repeated mistakes that Manchester United somehow never took advantage of, even as Chelsea played out of the back in the slimmest of margins all game. N’Golo Kante looked himself again finally and made up for most if not all of Ziyech’s mistakes. I get this sinking feeling that Ziyech is either: A. entirely a system player, setup for glory in Ajax’s wild swinging offense, but not others or B. has a bag of tricks that worked early in the season and now with adjustments is no longer effective. Gone are the days of the spellbinding left footed crosses, that now are snuffed out with only a whimper. Of all the free kick specialists on this team, Ziyech provided the most nuanced and well weighted of balls. Reece James givewa curling banger crosses, Chilwell and Alonso both provide stinging fast dangerous balls and Mount attempts to combine the proper weight and speed of both those styles, but Ziyech can just bend the ball with his mind to a spot and i’m so genuinely disappointed even a new manager can’t find a place for this skill set even as he has for many others. I get that Tuchel’s system doesn’t favor defensively deficient wingers, but for god sakes, you can’t tell he couldn’t at least try Ziyech as a forward wing back on the left side. I know Ziyech is more comfortable on the right side, but his pace and length should be enough for him to get free crosses into the box. The chemistry was off with this weird line-up all game up front, with missed reads on passes, fizzled out presses and honestly the play of both teams who didn’t appear interested in winning the game and you have to wonder how many more chances Ziyech will get or if the challenge of the Premier League season really is too much for him.
The second half of this game brought an uptick in chances for both teams, though again, Chelsea failed to control the midfield, with Bruno Fernandes, Fred and Scott Fucking McTominay overunning the midfield without Mount and Kante staving off the Bolton horde like Jon Snow. Kovacic looked out of sorts being played out of position as one of the middle two in the four man line. Time and again, Kovacic fails to provide any sort of flexibility in his positioning, even as his time with Tuchel showcased his considerable skill. Chelsea played conservatively today, similar to their MO with Lampard and Kovacic gets so impatient when he can’t press that he panic fouls in between swimming against the current of the offense. His best form involves getting forward quickly, keeping the ball moving with his passing and covering defensively when given enough time by the outside defenders of the back three. He was never going to properly cover McTominay and Bruno who again were only thwarted by Kante and his Duracell day, snuffing out any sort of ManU offensive rhythm. I’ll give him the weird formation of this game, however he’s a rejuvenated self in Tuchel’s offense, allowing freedom and lack of pressure put on players into areas of discomfort. It’s frustrating to see him succeed and then have a game like this, that he often had under Lampard where he genuinely looks confused by the run of play of the team around him. He didn’t get forward, nor did he get back and cover today, instead frantically trying to do too many things and failing at all of them.
Offensively, Chelsea still need to really form an identity and unfortunately it might be impossible with the Erling Haaland possibility looming in the summer transfer window. If that happens, everything becomes unclear for Timo Werner, Christian Pulisic, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Hakim Ziyech. Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud appear to be on their way out of this mess so they can at least play their hearts out for new contracts when they have opportunities. If Haaland happens, everything will have to be re-jiggered to fit his skillset which should translate much like Giroud’s in the Premier League. Haaland doesn’t need the ball at his feet and doesn’t thrive in ticky tacka build up, instead arriving like a flash flood, decimating defenses with aerial game, superior control on the ball (though in short stints) and unparalleled finishing efficiency. This game was the first one where I felt that Tuchel seemed passe about how his offense would work in anticipation of an inevitable overhaul. For god sakes, he took out Giroud and put possibly the worst aerial Chelsea player, Pulisic (who to be fair is 5’7”) just to see what would happen and low and behold, Pulisic could barely get a touch on the ball playing as a center forward. Werner played out left when Pulisic was in center so along with everything else in the game, I still feel like Chelsea showed up ready to not lose rather than win. Not going conspiracy here, but felt a little like a scout game for the skill sets of various players to see how they fit around Haaland with Giroud only a prayer for a goal given his own prowess for efficiency. Giroud did indeed have the best chance of the game other than Ziyech’s point blank shot right at David De Gea so maybe Tuchel just needed to see how his “false 9” though really a true 9 plan would work with Pulisic, but I can’t help feel like Giroud is playing scout for Haaland. I don’t know what to take from this game, other than the solidity of the backline; whoever plays back there as long as Mendy minds the net seems confident. It’s fine, it’s a result and Chelsea need that more than ever against big six competition and a slumping Liverpool awaits them later this week. Maybe Tuchel took this game to answer questions. I hope so because they always say a wounded animal is the most dangerous and boy are Liverpool bleeding right now.
Bo's Gamut 