Chelsea, who have just won the Club World Cup in the middle of this month, have their first match in the Champions League knockout round of the season, and for the momentum of Chelsea, the first leg of the home game against Lille should not be a problem, and what manager Tuchel needs to focus on is how to allow multi-line teams to fully rotate their personnel while ensuring results. There is no doubt that Tuchel has once again made the right staffing arrangements, ushering in the opening of Chelsea's Champions League knockout stages.
Last season's Ligue 1 champion Lille experienced a major personnel change in the summer window last year, and the departure of champion coach Galti and a number of main players has caused the team's performance to plummet this season, and it is currently only 11th in Ligue 1, which is completely unimaginable that this is the champion team of the previous season. Reaching the champions league quarter-finals with a first-place finish in the group became the only reason the team could comfort the fans. Although they are eager to go further, but with the powerful Chelsea, their chances of advancing to the next round will become very small, and the result of the first leg of the two sides is basically a reflection of the difference in strength between the two teams.
Let's analyze the tactical points of Chelsea's 2-0 win over Lille, see the gains and losses of the two teams in this crucial matchup, and delve into why Chelsea was able to break through the away team's wing block and why Lille was unable to score against Chelsea's defensive holes.
Tuchel rotated the lineup with a degree of relaxation, and Guvinek changed the lineup slightly
As can be seen from the recent games, Tuchel prefers to use the 4-back system in domestic competitions and is more adept at using the 3-centre-back system in foreign competitions. In two matches of the Club World Cup, Tuchel relied on the three-centre-back system to win the title, and in last weekend's Premier League match, Tuchel beat Crystal Palace on the road with a four-back formation. Against Lille, Tuchel once again lined up in a 3-4-3 formation. Kante and Mateo Kovacic sit in the middle to ensure the hardness and ability to shoot the ball in the midfield, Alonso's defensive tasks on the left are heavier, and Azpilicueta on the right has more offensive tasks. Pusic's range of activities is wider, and although Havertz occupies the position of center forward, he plays the role of pseudo-number nine on the field, and his frequent retreat tandem with Pulisic brings flexibility and fluency to Chelsea's attacking front.
Lille head coach Guvinnek did not deviate from the 4-4-2 system they excelled in, which was the signature formation of their championship campaign. However, in order to ensure a numerical advantage in the midfield, he removed a striker, Irmaz, in favor of a 4-2-3-1 formation. He used Andre and Shika to form a double back to protect the defender line, let A Onana organize the attack behind the single-arrow Jonathan David, replaced A Gomez with Renato Sanchez as a right winger, and he was followed by right-back Celik. As can be seen from the average position map, Celik on the right is very far ahead, with his side taking on 45% of the team's attack and the left side accounting for only 36%.
Confident Chelsea easily broke Down Lille's wing-side blockline
The flexible running position of the Chelsea forward trident allowed them to gain control of the pitch in the opening stages and posed a threat to Lille in front of goal on several occasions. Their offensive thinking on both sides is generally the same, that is, to advance rapidly through two closely connected triangle systems. The winger retreated to form the first triangle system with the midfielders bi-axis Kante or Kovacic and the wing-backs to send the ball into the attacking second zone, the wing-back quickly put on the full advantage of the width of the field to transition the midfield, and the other two forwards moved to the flanks to form a second triangle system to push the ball into the attacking third zone.
This time the attack was very representative, Ziyech withdrew to do the ball to Kante, who sent the ball into the right side, Azpilicueta became the connection point of the two triangular systems, Havertz rushed into the box with the ball to create a corner, and it was with this corner kick opportunity that Havertz cleverly ran a header to give Chelsea a quick lead.
Chelsea's push on the other side is the same routine. This time, however, Lille stepped up the high press and arranged four players on the flanks to try to block the ball high in the front. However, both Pulisic and Havertz retreated to the backfield to connect, and they formed a triangle with Alonso at their own backfield to break Up Lille's ferocious blockage, sending the ball into the danger zone of the front, and Alonso's cross from the outside of the box was cleared by a Lille centre-back.
The flexible running position of the Chelsea forward trio has caused a headache for Lille's midfielders, who are fast in passing and receiving the ball, have strong personal dribbling ability, and Lille players are easy to be overtaken when they are one-on-one, and it is easy to leave vacancies when multiplayers are defending. Pulisic's positional role is extremely critical, he is fast, excellent ball possession, large range of motion, and retreat is very deep, making it difficult for Lille players to defend, he often takes the ball between two lines of defense, and then quickly turns away, and can form a quick connection with Havertz, the wing-back, Chelsea is with the high mobility of the road to break The Lille's wing block.
Of course, Chelsea's organizational advances are not the only way to advance, they will also try more concise long passes to fight Against Lille's four-back system. They have used this diagonal approach many times in their Premier League games against Liverpool and in the Club World Cup against Hilal. Whether it is Rudiger, Kovacic, or D Silva, they will pick up the ball directly at the back and pass diagonally to the attacking players on the weak side of the far side of the opposite side. As shown in the image above, Rudiger's back-line pass connects to the opposite corner, at which point Chelsea form a 2-1 situation in the front of the right side, Azpilicueta and Ziyech send the ball together after passing, and Havertz grabbed the drop point in the box and almost broke through Lille's goal in the opening 4th minute.
Although such a long-pass attack is concise and efficient, avoiding a lot of no-ball running and passing cooperation in the road cooperation, the error rate of this way of advancing is also relatively high, especially when the opponent strengthens the protection of the weak side, this long-pass propulsion means can not play its due role. Overall, Lille was unable to effectively intercept Chelsea's rapid advance, which was one of the main reasons they conceded away from home.
Lille's attack was concise, and the Blues defence exposed loopholes at one point, but the three centre-backs and goalkeepers made no mistakes
Chelsea's offensive momentum slowed down after the goal, with the two teams fighting fiercely for possession in the second offensive zone, and Chelsea's mistakes gradually increasing, which also gave Lille some offensive opportunities. With Chelsea's pressing not very strong up front, Lille could easily push the ball into zone two, allowing them to hit the empty area behind Chelsea's two wing-backs with a quick long pass as long as the ball was near the centre-back. During the fast-paced transition between attack and defense, Chelsea's defensive end once exposed the empty defensive loopholes behind the two wings, which also made Lille's attack a threat, but the close cooperation between Chelsea's three centre-backs and goalkeeper Mendy did not allow the visiting team to create excellent scoring opportunities.
In this scene, Chelsea's 5-2-3 defensive form can be clearly seen in the no-ball state, with two wing-backs falling to the back line, two backs guarding the middle, and two wingers slightly forward to prepare for counterattack. Lille were disjointed from the front and back, with six defenders behind the midfield line and four attackers in the front. Although Lille's long midfield pass was able to penetrate Chelsea's defence and form a connection with Celik on the right, D Silva destroyed the opponent's cross.
Another long cross from Lille's diagonal attack, this time the space behind Chelsea's wings was caught by Lille, but goalkeeper Mendy struck decisively to clear the ball before the opposing winger could get the ball.
Since Tuchel took charge, Chelsea have greatly improved the Blues' defensive ability under the balance of people and areas, and the full-backs have also developed elite-level defensive capabilities in rapid attack and defense transitions. However, this time the Blues' 5-2-3 backcourt flank did have a lot of loopholes, and Lille was keenly aware of the opportunity, but because Lille was seriously disconnected from the front and back, it was impossible to form an effective secondary attack, the frontcourt attack group did not have an advantage in numbers, Lille's offensive means were single, and the creativity of the midfield was insufficient, making it difficult to form a real and effective threat to Chelsea.
Of course, the Blues' performance of the three centre-backs and goalkeepers in the backfield is also remarkable. After the match, Kante won the applause, but Thiago Silva did perform well defensively. His five-back system provides a steady defensive contribution and command ability, and in this game his calm response effectively prevented multiple attacks from opponents, 7 clearances, 2 blocking shots, 2 successful interceptions, 1 steal, 4 successful aerial confrontations, he is the highest scoring player outside Of Pulisic and Kante. Under the excellent leadership of D Silva, Rudiger, Christensen and goalkeeper Mendy also contributed a steady performance, successfully keeping a clean sheet.
Tuchel adjusted the reinforcement of the midfield defense to "lure the enemy deeper", and Lille lost in the overall strength
With D Silva providing stable support at the rear, Tutchell accelerated the pace of attack again after half-time, while Lille on the other side showed no weakness, increasing the attacking staff and pressing force in the front, and playing against Chelsea in the opening stages of the second half. Although both sides look imposing in the scene, the threat is not great. However, Kovacic's unexpected injury upset Tuchel's strategic deployment, and he switched to Cheek and withdrew Ziyech to the left side of the midfield, allowing for a 5-3-2 defensive formation at the back, further limiting Lille's flanking attack.
However, Ziyeh was also injured, and Tuchel replaced Ziyech with Saul. Instead of pressing high, the Blues made mid-range interceptions behind the midfield line, which also gave them a break. In the face of the Blues' defensive posture, Lille not only had difficulty in using the attacking combination of the two wings to achieve results, but also played a sharp counterattack by Chelsea in a row. Havertz's steals, runs and shots have sounded alarm bells for the visiting team, but Lille has not been able to block another counterattack from Chelsea.
As you can see, Lille saw Chelsea retreating from the half and putting more troops in the front, this time they arranged 5 players on the flank, but failed to grab the Blues' 6, Kante got the ball and rushed all the way to the attacking third zone, forming a 3-on-3 situation, Pulisic received the ball and pushed into the far corner to score the goal that sealed the win.
Unexpectedly, the conservative change made by Tuchel due to unexpected circumstances actually became a clever trick to "lure the enemy deeper", Guvinek thought that the time for a large-scale attack had come, and arranged more offensive players in the front field, which cheng wanted to be his own rear defense, and was caught by the sharp counterattack of the Blues. Then again, this is the embodiment of the gap in strength between the two teams, and Lille's offensive and defensive capabilities are still far behind Chelsea.
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The two teams have similar possession rates, Chelsea have relatively few shots on goal, and their victory lies in the stability of their defence and the quality and efficiency of their attacks. Although the long-term injuries of Rees James and Chilwell may have made the 3-4-3 system lose its unique vitality in the final third of the schedule, Chelsea proved with this Champions League matchup that they can still play the power of a 3-4-3 formation with the right combination of personnel, and it can be said that Chelsea's entry into the champions league quarter-finals is no longer much suspense.
Gulvinek spoke after the game about how his team struggled and said the team still had hopes of qualifying. However, this game will show the gap in strength between the two sides vividly, Lille exposed too many problems that need to be solved in this game, the next leg back to his home, Lille must come up with the level of last season's competition for the Ligue 1 title to have the possibility of advancing to the champions league quarterfinals, I believe most people will not be optimistic that Lille can turn the tables in adversity!