Puel's Game Plan for Chelsea?

[davieG]

https://theprideoflondon.com/author/gperry/

 

Chelsea: Jamie Vardy led the latest way to use Jorginho, Luiz against the Blues

 

Leicester are the latest mid-table team to usurp Chelsea’s structure and tactics easily and efficiently by targeting Jorginho. Jamie Vardy occupied a single passing lane, and the Blues were off the rails.
After the first few games of mid-table opponents focussing their disruption efforts on Jorginho, it looked like Maurizio Sarri would be in a season-long cat-and-mouse game with his peers. Then Tottenham dismantled the entire Jorginho-centric system. Chelsea muddled through games against PAOK, Fulham and Wolves before the win against Manchester City suggested the beginning of a post-Jorginho world, one where he is important cog but not singularly vital to the structure or system of the team.

 

If that was ever the case, it was not on Saturday. Leicester City gave Jamie Vardy a simple instruction whenever Chelsea had the ball in their defensive third or the midfield third: block the pass lane from David Luiz to Jorginho.

Vardy made very few pressing runs towards Chelsea’s centre-backs or Kepa Arrizabalaga. The few times he charged towards Arrizabalaga would be if Chelsea made a nearly horizontal pass to their goalkeeper with 15 yards or so of the touchline. Otherwise, Vardy allowed the centre-backs to hold on to the ball, and took away Luiz’s ability to pass it to Jorginho.

Claude Puel knew that Chelsea’s midfielders will not drop deep to give the defenders an alternative to Jorginho to play the ball out from the back. Jorginho is the only central option, which normally requires the wingers to drop deep to support the full-backs when they receive the ball.

 

But Puel also knew – as everyone should by now – that he could easily draw Luiz out by letting the Blues move up-field. The Foxes shifted their press in the middle third, letting Chelsea’s wingers move forward. They denied Luiz the simple, straight-forward pass to Jorginho to start Chelsea moving up field by the book. Then they gave him the opportunity to do something overblown and spectacular.

 

Never one to disappoint the opposition, Luiz did just that. He completed just nine passes to Jorginho on Saturday and 10 to his same-side full-back Marcos Alonso. He completed eight passes to the far-side touchline to either Willian or Cesar Azpilicueta .

 

Luiz was as likely to spray a long diagonal pass to the far-side touchline as he was to make a horizontal pass to his same-side full-back or the usual midfield outlet, Jorginho. While many fans will ooh and ahh over these long passes, they are the exact Plan B Maurizio Sarri does not want his side falling back upon. His reasons for this are mostly dogmatic, but Leicester showed the pragmatic effects of Luiz’s reflexive improvisation.

Claude Puel also knew that if Chelsea bring down the ball on the wing in the offensive third, it will likely stay there. Circumventing Jorginho at the beginning of the play means Chelsea skip a few steps in their build-up, landing them high and wide with no rhythm and nowhere to go. The pass from Luiz to Willian kicks off the endless and pointless U-shaped passing that once earned slack-jawed admiration but now is rightly derided as “tiki-taka” (a term Pep Guardiola hates, for good reason – he associates it with what we have seen this season).

 

Once Chelsea had the ball in the final third, Jamie Vardy would drop deep into Leicester’s defensive set-up. At that point, the danger had passed. There was no risk of Jorginho pinging quick passes with the midfielders and forwards as Chelsea moved up the field. If the ball came to Jorginho, he would shuttle it from one side to the next or maybe back towards the centre-backs. Leicester’s defensive shape became Chelsea’s passing shape.

Vardy’s positioning reflected Puel’s threat assessment of Chelsea. High up the pitch, the Blues have little vertical movement – either passing or runs – that could penetrate the Foxes’ defensive. From Leicester’s perspective, Jorginho is almost the ideal player to have on the ball. They know he will go short and sideways. The Foxes had no issue standing off him.

 

Forty yards earlier, as part of a counter-attack or build-up, those short, sideways passes set the stage for Eden Hazard, Pedro and Willian (in theory) to run through a scattered and retreating Leicester defence. Even if the initial quick move does not come off, the Blues would enter the final third with their passing and movement rhythm in full swing.

The simplicity of Leicester’s counter-Jorginho’s tactics is almost insulting. On the other hand, how Puel synthesized his tactical and psychological understanding of Chelsea’s midfield, wingers, Jorginho and David Luiz to find such a simple solution is fully commendable.

 

[mozartfox]

Very intelligent game management. Buggers belief how we get undone so often just before half-time. That cannot be Puel's fault.

[UniFox21]

Actually a really inciteful piece here, makes a lot of sense. Shows the level of detail put into game plans 

[Ted Maul]

But he's a useless fraud, isn't he? 

[Babylon]

45 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Actually a really inciteful piece here, makes a lot of sense. Shows the level of detail put into game plans 

Yeah but "vArDy sItTiNg dEeP aNd NoT pReSsInG dEfEnDeRs, PuEl oUt"

[Chester Dontlie]

An interesting read and a fantastic away result versus favourites, but it's a one off so far. Can we have a streak of say 2-3 wins and/or stop dropping points against lower half of the table teams before we hail the tactical genius of Napuelon? IF we win with Man City AND Cardiff now, then MAYBE we're on to something. Until then... don't praise the day before the sunset. There's still 15 points to safety.

[Beechey]

Wow the players figured this entire gameplan out, trained and drilled it and executed it without any management oversight?

Because as we know, if we don't dominate possession, it's never Puel's gameplan, right? It's always the players then.

[mozartfox]

25 minutes ago, Chester Dontlie said:

An interesting read and a fantastic away result versus favourites, but it's a one off so far. Can we have a streak of say 2-3 wins and/or stop dropping points against lower half of the table teams before we hail the tactical genius of Napuelon? IF we win with Man City AND Cardiff now, then MAYBE we're on to something. Until then... don't praise the day before the sunset. There's still 15 points to safety.

I reckon 35 points might be enough given the dross around the bottom.   

[LCCFox96]

We did exactly what a lower-ranked visiting team to Stamford Bridge should do yesterday. Kept it tight at the back, got in their faces, frustrated them, pressed well and buried our big chance when it came along. Textbook stuff.

[David Hankey]

Game plan?!! I wonder about all these theorists as you can have all the plans under the sun but invariably individual mistakes lead to goals being scored. 

[SheppyFox]

Puel is genius  

[yks]

A lot of weird and complicated stuff in this, that is suspicious to me.

Every football expert know the sport is way more simple :

- playing the same eleven weeks after weeks : Good
- rotating your squad to avoid long term exhaustion, adapt to the opposition, keep all the group of players involved : Bad

- going Gung Ho all games all the time : Good (and exciting)
- alterning phases of possession and counter attack, keeping energy during some phases and let the adversaries exhaust themselves to have an edge during high intensity phases : Bad (and boooooooooooooooooring)

Once again, another journalists and a Puel apologists who has no idea what he is talking about.
Please share more pertinent pieces of journalism, like the one that describes how not picking Andy King instead of Ndidi, Mendy, Choudury or Iborra is an absolute shame and led the players to revolt against their manager.

[MPH]

it’s aN interesting piece  but the reality is that if both sides had taken their chances chelsea would have won..

[coolhandfox]

3 minutes ago, MPH said:

it’s aN interesting piece  but the reality is that if both sides had taken their chances chelsea would have won..

Correct, however away from home against any of the top 4 to get a result your going to need a bit of luck.

 

We also worked Kepa on a couple of occasions, he made decent save from Ndidi and Albrighton.

 

 

[MPH]

9 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

Correct, however away from home against any of the top 4 to get a result your going to need a bit of luck.

 

We also worked Kepa on a couple of occasions, he made decent save from Ndidi and Albrighton.

 

 

 

 

yes definitely we played well. but we must not think we have ‘arrived’ is really my point. still work to be done! heading in the right direction though IF we can keep it up.

[grumpy old git]

Hang on this is just like Deja-vu all over again!

Towards the end of last season after suffering a long run of poor results with Claude Puel was refusing to alter the formation or the style we play, he then came under the threat of the sack.

Then suddenly he changed both the formation and style of play and we started playing well again picking up some good results and Claude saved his job!

This year I have never been so depressed and bored with our poor style and performances during games from our team and once again Claude was refusing week after week to change anything we were shocking. Then once again Deja-vu he came under threat of the sack and once again and in a last ditched attempt to save his own backside he finally changed things around with a new formation and style of play and we beat Chelsea away and we look so much more like a proper team.

Now the big if……..is Clueless Claude going to have a light bulb moment about play the way that suites our team and play to our strengths and helps the players to show off their ability’s or once again when he has saved his job we will return to the dross we have all had to put up with earlier on this season.

One can only keep our fingers crossed!

[Nicolo Barella]

47 minutes ago, grumpy old git said:

Hang on this is just like Deja-vu all over again!

 

Towards the end of last season after suffering a long run of poor results with Claude Puel was refusing to alter the formation or the style we play, he then came under the threat of the sack.

 

Then suddenly he changed both the formation and style of play and we started playing well again picking up some good results and Claude saved his job!

 

This year I have never been so depressed and bored with our poor style and performances during games from our team and once again Claude was refusing week after week to change anything we were shocking. Then once again Deja-vu he came under threat of the sack and once again and in a last ditched attempt to save his own backside he finally changed things around with a new formation and style of play and we beat Chelsea away and we look so much more like a proper team.

 

Now the big if……..is Clueless Claude going to have a light bulb moment about play the way that suites our team and play to our strengths and helps the players to show off their ability’s or once again when he has saved his job we will return to the dross we have all had to put up with earlier on this season.

 

One can only keep our fingers crossed!

 

r/beetlejuicing

[WestLothianFox]

1 hour ago, grumpy old git said:

Hang on this is just like Deja-vu all over again!

 

Towards the end of last season after suffering a long run of poor results with Claude Puel was refusing to alter the formation or the style we play, he then came under the threat of the sack.

 

Then suddenly he changed both the formation and style of play and we started playing well again picking up some good results and Claude saved his job!

 

This year I have never been so depressed and bored with our poor style and performances during games from our team and once again Claude was refusing week after week to change anything we were shocking. Then once again Deja-vu he came under threat of the sack and once again and in a last ditched attempt to save his own backside he finally changed things around with a new formation and style of play and we beat Chelsea away and we look so much more like a proper team.

 

Now the big if……..is Clueless Claude going to have a light bulb moment about play the way that suites our team and play to our strengths and helps the players to show off their ability’s or once again when he has saved his job we will return to the dross we have all had to put up with earlier on this season.

 

One can only keep our fingers crossed!

 

My thoughts exactly. 

[Stan]

8 hours ago, Chester Dontlie said:

An interesting read and a fantastic away result versus favourites, but it's a one off so far. Can we have a streak of say 2-3 wins and/or stop dropping points against lower half of the table teams before we hail the tactical genius of Napuelon? IF we win with Man City AND Cardiff now, then MAYBE we're on to something. Until then... don't praise the day before the sunset. There's still 15 points to safety.

Nonsense.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

10 minutes ago, Stan said:

Nonsense.

Only happy if we beat Chelsea and Man City in the space of 5 days

[yorkie1999]

My analysis. We were lucky Chelsea couldn’t score.

[FLAN]

6 hours ago, yks said:

A lot of weird and complicated stuff in this, that is suspicious to me.

Every football expert know the sport is way more simple :

- playing the same eleven weeks after weeks : Good
- rotating your squad to avoid long term exhaustion, adapt to the opposition, keep all the group of players involved : Bad

- going Gung Ho all games all the time : Good (and exciting)
- alterning phases of possession and counter attack, keeping energy during some phases and let the adversaries exhaust themselves to have an edge during high intensity phases : Bad (and boooooooooooooooooring)

Once again, another journalists and a Puel apologists who has no idea what he is talking about.
Please share more pertinent pieces of journalism, like the one that describes how not picking Andy King instead of Ndidi, Mendy, Choudury or Iborra is an absolute shame and led the players to revolt against their manager.

You think King is better than Mendy or Ndidi?  Have a word