The Blues trainer has found an unorthodox answer to an unproductive attack by getting more out of his defenders. As Frank Lampard’s Chelsea tenure began to disintegrate in December 2020 and worsened at the turn of the year, one of the major issues at the club was the ineffectiveness of their attack.
Of course, there were broader structural issues in West London, which the club legend seemed unable to solve and a tactical naivete that was oh-so evident for most of his 18-month spell at the club marred the denouement of his reign.
After the club’s greatest player was jettisoned for Thomas Tuchel, the aforementioned issues in front of the goal persisted. Although the German overachieved by claiming Chelsea’s second Champions League title, securing a top-four spot that seemed beyond them in January, and reaching the FA Cup final where they were beaten by Leicester City, it was obvious this side needed more goals.
Timo Werner, signed by RB Leipzig, bore most of the brunt in 2020/21 due to a largely frustrating year in front of goal. His struggles in year one magnified the need for a reliable goalscorer and this non-stop debate continued into the summer.
Commentators and fans believed primary target Erling Haaland was the instant solution to the Blues’ goalscoring bugbear, an addition many reckoned would turn them into title contenders at least.
Eventually, Romelu Lukaku, not Haaland, was acquired instead and a significant portion of observers declared the European Champions Premier League title favorites, again missing the point that the former Inter Milan superstar could not carry the burden alone.
Indeed, this is proving to be the case 12 league games later, although Tuchel’s solution was unforeseen months back.
With his forwards either injured or continuing to be Jekyll and Hyde, the former Paris Saint-Germain boss has been a beneficiary of his defenders coming up trumps early doors this term.
Thirteen of the Blues’ 30 strikes have been contributed by the defense, a staggering 43 percent of their return.
This is unlike any side in the English top-flight and the ongoing reality seemed improbable at the start of the season.
Reece James (four) and the now-injured Ben Chilwell (three) respectively sit top and second in the scoring charts, Trevoh Chalobah and Antonio Rudiger have two each while the pair of Thiago Silva and Marcos Alonso has netted once in the league.
Throwing in total goal contributions from players in the Blues’ rearguard and 16 goals plus assists, while having a nice ring to it, is not sustainable.
Of course, Tuchel and his technical team deserve credit for the unusual approach. After last week’s comprehensive 3-0 defeat of Leicester City, Rudiger revealed the team had discussed the Foxes’ weakness from set-pieces pre-game and looked to exploit that flaw in the East Midlands side’s defending.
With Brendan Rodgers’ troops letting in more goals from such situations and Chelsea netting the highest from dead balls, this was always a sensible approach going into the encounter at the King Power Stadium.
Their head coach often repeats the need to find solutions and a recent tweak to how his wingbacks interpret their roles has added an extra layer of unpredictability to the West London side’s attack.
While little has changed in their broader approach — they attack with five and defend with as many — the greater fluidity of movement by the individuals in the attacking phase has been evident in recent weeks.
When performances dipped for over a month in September through early October, their game against Southampton last month saw the nominal wing-backs on the day — Chilwell and Cesar Azpilicueta — take up narrower positions in the channels from time to time.
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In reality, though, the wing-backs and ‘attacking 10s’ interchanged positions often, repeatedly drawing Saints players out of position and leading to a plethora of promising attacks for the home side.
Since that 3-1 success against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s crew, this has largely been the evident modus operandi for Tuchel’s team with the movement of the marauding wing-backs posing problems for sides they are up against.
They are given even greater license to roam, thus theoretically increasing their prospects of finding themselves in goalscoring positions. Reece James has been a beneficiary of this alteration, with the 21-year-old involved in five goals since late October, while Chilwell’s four goals plus assists have come since that win over Saints.
Having said that, the Blues’ attacking players need to find the necessary consistency if Chelsea are to sustain their challenge of wresting the Premier League title from Manchester City.
Lukaku, in particular, has been manacled by an inclination to utilize him as a target-man with little authorization to wander, Werner has shown flashes in fits and starts (although both have admittedly been injured for a bit), while Tuchel will hope Hakim Ziyech, Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Kai Havertz, and Christian Pulisic pull their weight going forward.
Netting from unusual sources may satisfy in the short term, but the Chelsea boss will know this year’s title challenge may hinge on increased productivity from the expected sources.
