IT WAS A GREAT MOVE BY NUNO TO HAVE HIM PLAY ON THE LEFT!!!!
It meant that Son could occupy Thiago (36yrs old), Nuno used his personnel available to him well.....
Playing high with aggressive pressure from Kane, Son Lo Celso, Dele and Ndombele. In addition to this he used Romero well (again to his strengths as we've heard about him in Italy playing very much on the front foot, which also stopped Chavs build up.
He got service, but his role wasn't to fucking score goals, why because he was playing on the fucking left! Why was he playing on the left because he can't press, but he kept high, received the ball with his back to goal and was playing in both Dele and Ndombele who were taking up some great positions. This caused Chavs MASSIVE problems. It took them until the approx 40th min for Tuchel to figure out a solution, which was to drop Mount into midfield, it worked so he double-downed with that solution and brought on Kante who's far better than Mount in that position.
Look at the above. Kane can't do what Son is doing here, Same as Lo Celso (or at least he can't do this AND remain alive after a successful pressing phase should we win the ball back!!! THIS IS WHY HE WAS PLAYING ON THE LEFT!
We went 1v1 with their backline and more interestingly we did this to their verticle spin. Silva (pressed by Son), Jorginho (pressed by Dele), Lukaku (Marked by Dier). (Lo Celso went 1v1 on Kovacic, PEH with Havertz & Mount - Havertz was able to play a couple of times around PEH in the first half, but on the whole, we contained them and interrupted their build-up).
Why was this so important? Because it showed Nuno used the right profile of player to execute this Dele/Son/Ndombele & Lo Celso are all better suited (their profile) to defending proactively rather than reactively (PRESSING).
THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF NDOMBELE PRESSING KOVACIC & WINNING THE BALL (DELE DID THE SAME TO JORGINHO)
LOOK AT THE WIDTH OF DELE, AZPILICUETA HAS TO COVER HIM CREATING A BIG SPACE THAT LO CELSO IS AIMING FOR WITH KANE DELIBERATELY DELAYING HIS RUN FOR A PULLBACK (NICE TO SEE REGGIE SO BRAVELY COMMITTED TO THE ATTACK TOO).
Kane can no longer press but is still a world-class player, so this is how you accommodate him. It absolutely worked in the first half (or up to the point when Tuchel dropped Mount into midfield at the end of the first half). It goes tits up because Lo Celso still isn't fit enough (no pre-season and then been away with Argentina). It goes tits up because Chavs react well to it and are a fucking brilliant team. It goes tits up because maybe Ndombele is still not fit (he's played one game, last week in almost 5 months!! but he didn't look shagged to me, there will be others on here who think he did. It went tits up because when Ndombele & Lo Celso went off we have no one to progress the ball, combine this with Chavs now having an extra man in midfield and they can now dominant it. (I think the idea was to try and take the lead in the first half, then probably sit in a low or midblock and hope to keep them out and look to counter????).
ALL THIS IS WHY KANE WAS PLAYING ON THE LEFT. BECAUSE WE CHOSE TO PRESS HIGH UP THE PITCH.
This team is a work in progress but you have Kane on the pitch because he's a fucking good footballer, ignore the media noise around him, christ there a ton of it now but if this is the beginnings of what we will seeing us develop into then I'm all in (I'm 100% NOT onboard if we don't and play like passive cowards). But Kane is really, really important part of this team as we can't do this without him.........
Great fucking post. People have fucking blinders on when it comes to Kane’s limitations as a player.
I can promise you if Son has Lucas and Berg, our press and counter would have been better, faster and more dynamic. Just see how we dismantled Man City.
Son was handicapped with Kane against Chelsea as far as pressing goes but i do agree that Kane needs a role, just not in his typical position.
Having Ndombele in MF was absolutely crucial as well.
The first half of that game we looked excellent against an elite Chelsea side. Could have been better with the likes of Lucas and Berg who press and counter much better
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