JUVENTUS VS CHELSEA: TACTICAL ANALYSIS THREAD: TUCHEL OUTCLASSED?
Chelsea went with their favored 3-4-2-1 whereas Allegri went with his classic 4-4-2 in the UCL. Tuchel had switched back to a 3-4-2-1 with two inside forwards rather than the 3-5-2 that led to the loss against City.
Chelsea built up in their usual 3-2 shape with their wingbacks high and wide. Both inside forwards occupied the half spaces with the goal being to either reach them or the wingbacks. Chelsea have always caused overloads on the side to find the extra man but were unable to do so.
Allegri's 4-4-2: The 4-4-2 perfectly counters the use oe wingbacks as the fullback or wide mf can be tasked to mark them while the other covers the half spaces. As seen in the image the narrow 4-4-2 blocked all passes into halfspaces or to the wingbacks. Control.
Allegri also implemented a high press similar to Manchester City at the weekend which saw CFC struggle. The trigger was the outer cb's and then used the touchline + matched them in numbers. Chelsea could not build out from the back anymore. Chelsea start to go long on goalkicks.
Can't find the wingbacks nor the halfspace?: Chelsea needed rotations to manipulate the Juventus lines yet the only rotation was alonso and Ziyech higher up the pitch. They can learn a thing or two from City's half space occupation + rotation to drag players out.
Federico Chiesa, a perfect counter attacking threat. Chiesa being a world class outlet that can play on both feet meant that Juve can afford having deeper wide midfielders. They rely on playing a long ball to Chiesa to get them out. He also always needs 1/2 chances max to score.
The chess match started in the 2nd half and almost everytime Tuchel changed something in shape or personnel, Allegri would do the same. Tuchel switched to a 3 man midfield to forma a 3v2 + brought on Chilwell to make runs in behind. Allegri switched to a 5-3-2.
Chelsea even swithced to get more deep crosses just like their goal against Zenit. Allegri switched to a 5-4-1 to have both wide midfielders press the rcb and lcb to block any deep cross from coming in. Small tweaks, big difference.
Allegri's mid block that pressed at times was the perfect way to counter Thomas Tuchel's team that relies on finding the wingback after passes deeper. Allegri then made in game changes that saw his side match Tuchel whilst posing a massive counter attacking threat. Grande Mister!
From the press forcing LFC one way, to the midfield overload that confused the LFC players. City’s performance in possession was superb, and that stems from Pep’s approach.
Let’s talk tactics:
The approach from Pep was similar to the Bournemouth game, with wingers coming inside to overload and overwhelm the LFC double pivot.
Bernardo/Nico dropping into the backline to overload the LFC first line.
Szoboszlai dropped at times to pick up one of the midfielders, but that meant that LFC had one less player higher up = City possession.
Due to the overload, Szoboszlai was often bypassed as he wasn’t sure if he should pick up Foden or jump as part of a front 2. LFC’s best presser was lost, and that’s quite simply due to being outnumbered.
The rest of the frontline were quite passive, which frustrated Szoboszlai and once he made that jump, the pass to Foden or Nico was on.
Man City’s in possession approach vs Bournemouth THREAD 🧵!
Pep set up his team with the intention of overloading the center against Bournemouth. In possession, they did that brilliantly and found success thanks to a typical Pep "masterclass".
Let’s talk tactics:
With Bournemouth pressing in a 442, Pep had one of Bernardo/Nico drop in to form a back 3, simple 3v2 on the first line of pressure.
Higher up, he had Cherki and Doku drop centrally to overload the Bournemouth double pivot.
With fullbacks wide, they were able to go outside, then access the center with ease.
Here we see O’Reilly step in centrally with Doku wide, Adams can’t commit to jumping as Cherki/O’Reilly are in the half spaces higher up.
Scott jumps on Nico, and the free man Foden is found, due to the overload, City progress with ease.
City's out of possession issues vs Villa THREAD 🧵!
City's press has been a huge topic of discussion with Pep Lijnders as part of the coaching staff this season. Against Aston Villa, we saw a poor City press that was consistently bypassed.
Let's talk tactics:
City pressed in a 4-1-5 shape.
Bernardo and Foden joined Haaland in the first line of pressure, they would jump on the ball side cb with Haaland pressing the GK, the wingers were tasked with pressing the Villa fullbacks.
When Villa chose to go down the left through Pau Torres, City shifted with Bernardo shifting to press the ball side 6 (Onana).
Reijnders was the +1 screening the backline rather than jumping and taking part in the press with Savinho disengaged from the press.
In this example here we see what happened frequently which is City being late in their press, and simply “jumping” without real pressure.
Foden jumps with Bobb focusing on the ball, Digne starts moving forward out wide and receives the pass, Reijnders who’s focused on screening the backline jumps late once Villa bypass the first line of pressure leaving the center open.
Nunes then jumps late as well, which allows Villa to progress, play it to the gap centrally as the City backline opt to retreat and maintain a +1 in the backline.
With Slot constantly praising PSG's approach in possession and the fluidity they have with the ball, we're slowly seeing his side try to emulate the rotations/fluidity/movement that made the PSG team so great last season
Let's talk tactics:
Last season Gravenberch was predominantly the first receiver in midfield from the backline.
He'd be receiving on his own or have Mac Allister form a double pivot next to him.
We still saw that vs Everton but we saw Grav often receive pass then rotate out of the pivot.
In this example we see Grav form a double pivot with Mac Allister.
Mac Allister goes deeper as a LCB in possession allowing Kerkez to push high and wide ,dragging Ndiaye with him.
With Kerkez wide we see Gakpo inside making the run in behind and Ekitike come short.
Basic principle of maintaining width, depth, and having an option BTL.
Chelsea with their usual 3diamond3 but Andrews did brilliantly to counter that with his OOP shape. At half time we saw a change from Maresca, who saw his team take control and score twice. Ultimately, a draw seems like the fair result!
Let's talk tactics:
Chelsea went with their usual 3diamond3 IP.
Brentford countered that with a 5 diamond 1, one of the strikers followed Caicedo, with the other one situationally pressing the CBs.
Occasionally, Brentford would jump collectively to press Chelsea and found some success in doing so.
On goal kicks we saw Brentford try to press high but with a flat back 4 + GK Chelsea almost always had a free man and were able to circulate.
What Brentford did do well is trap Chelsea out wide with the 8 and WB jumping + far side 8 tucking in as well.