Had to split post into two as too many images.
Cont...................
As the physios attended to Son and Kepa after that collision,
Azpilicueta came over to talk to Tuchel, perhaps discussing a change of system. And when play restarts,
Mason Mount has now altered his position — having previously been part of the front three, he’s now part of a midfield trio, with Jorginho in the holding role and Kovacic becoming a No 8. Chelsea have moved from 3-4-3 to 3-5-2 in possession, or 5-2-3 to 5-3-2 out of possession.
This immediately helped Chelsea cope with those two aforementioned problems. Here, Kane is again looking to drop deep, but there’s no need for Christensen or Jorginho to follow him because Mount is blocking any potential pass.
Similarly, Chelsea had fewer problems against Spurs’ actual midfielders. Here, Mount indicates that he’s concentrating on tracking Dele, and although Ndombele has time on the ball here, at least the space is in front of Chelsea’s midfield, rather than in behind it.
Mount had been asked to shift into a role he was less comfortable in, so Tuchel decided it was worthwhile introducing
N’Golo Kante in his place.
Kante immediately got to work, winning a tackle inside the Tottenham half within 30 seconds.
Now, Chelsea were competing properly in midfield and started to get the upper hand. Here’s a three against three in that zone, with Hojbjerg unable to get up the pitch quickly enough to shut down Jorginho, and Kante sneaking in behind Dele to receive the ball between the lines. This was the attack that ended with Chelsea winning a corner, from which Silva headed home the opener.
And now it was Chelsea finding space on either side of Tottenham’s midfield. For their second goal, Kante, Jorginho and Kovacic worked the ball across the midfield neatly…
…and the attack ended with Kante finding oceans of space. Dier, highlighted, knows someone has to shut him down — but it’s Dier who ends up deflecting the ball past his own goalkeeper, effectively ending the contest.
But Tottenham did cause Chelsea serious problems in the first half here, particularly in those zones on either side of Jorginho and Kovacic.
Tuchel fixed the problem with a change of system, but with his wealth of attacking options, he’ll be reluctant to be forced into a 5-3-2 every week. Opponents have spent much of 2021 wondering precisely where you find space against Tuchel’s 3-4-3. Tottenham might have found the answer.