Beyond The Score

 (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

The master versus the apprentice…

Okay, I’ll spare all that talk it’s getting a tad boring, we hear it when Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal face off against Manchester City, let’s leave it there.

Nevertheless, Pep Guardiola showed off his tactical aptitude as Manchester City strolled away from Stamford Bridge with a two-nil victory. The result was never in doubt as they opened the scoring early doors. Erlling Haaland netted his first of many this season, just sixteen minutes in with a composed finish past Robert Sanchez. He gave an insight after the game on Sky Sports Main Event into his winning mentality as he explained the rationale behind the extra touches he took before shooting.

“I don’t know if you remember last year, but he had a great save on me, Sanchez, and you can see that he stays a lot on the line. So that’s why I took a couple of extra touches that means [Sanchez] rushing out, and then I knew exactly what to do. I think it was a really good goal. I remember from last year and it’s been irritating me for a long time. It was a perfect goal.”

Manchester City came close to doubling their lead when Kevin De Bruyne’s attempt flashed just wide. The build up involved excellent play from Rico Lewis as a decoy run dragged Lavia away and opened up space for Savinho to exploit. Soon after, Chelsea had a penalty shout as Enzo Fernandez dropped to the floor after a slight push from Savinho. VAR concluded that the Argentinian was already on his way down and the protests were waved away. Just minutes later, Jeremy Doku came close, forcing a brilliant save from Robert Sanchez. As the half came to a close Chelsea’s celebrations were cut short as Nicolas Jackson’s strike was deemed offside.

As the second half began Haaland came close to doubling the lead with a shot heading into the top left corner saved . The introduction of Pedro Neto was a turning point in the game. His pace and directness injected intensity into the Chelsea’s game. The Portuguese was just inches from converting from a Fernandez cross when Rico Lewis provided a vital interception.

The Champions killed the game when former Chelsea midfielder Matteo Kovacic put daylight between the two sides. It was the nail in the coffin and the deflated Stamford Bridge began to empty, a sight all too familiar in West London.

No Rodri no worry

Just when it seemed that Manchester City had one area of weakness, Pep Guardiola has identified and adapted. Last season they struggled without Rodri. In games at home to Crystal Palace, plus away to Wolves and Aston Villa they looked a shell of their selves with the Spaniard absent. On the counter they were more vulnerable meanwhile in possession they struggled to play with the same fluency.

What we saw yesterday was an entirely new system from the cityzens. It’s risky to read too much into the opening game with key personnel missing, but it seems that Guardiola has rolled the dice once again,

It’s a pattern we’ve saw throughout his tenure in Manchester. He adapts while on top.

Last season, the 3-2-5 formation in possession was effective and used by many sides. However, a 4-4-2 out of possession was a good way to counter this. The defending side could instruct their two strikers to man mark the double pivot and have their midfield four stopping the supply out wide. Therefore, it would be tough to break down and leave the attacking side frustrated with the ball stuck between their three centre-backs and unable to penetrate.

Of course, Manchester City’s players are so superior to most sides that they still found a way to play through. However, Guardiola strives for perfection. Against quality opposition at such as Arsenal and Real Madrid they struggled to break down and create the high volume of chances we usually associate with them. Ironically, Maresca’s Leicester side saw a similar issue in the second half of the Championship season last term.

Yesterday Manchester City went that bit more attacking. They lined up in a 3-1-1-5 formation. Rico Lewis was the main talking point , as his role was incredibly flexible.

He was everywhere on the pitch. As his heatmap shows, he was often in the defensive positions associated with a traditional right back. Yet he frequently found himself in zone 14 as an attacking outlet, as well as at the touchline to play crosses, not to mention in the typical inverted role we associate with John Stones. Remember heat map only illustrates the touches he took, this doesn’t take into consideration the runs he made off the ball to create space for others.

We see a range of fullback styles nowadays and in the past. Mikel Arteta uses inverted fullbacks to form a double pivot in possession. Ange Postecoglou uses his fullbacks in an aggressive attacking sense as they make inverting runs into the half space often finding themselves as a goalscoring threat. Jurgen Klopp was a man for overlapping fullbacks with his prime Liverpool side, as Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson racked up ludicrous numbers on the assist front. Arne Slot seems to be using a rotational fullback system where both flanks stay in a horizontal line but move inwards and outwards to counter a man marking press.

The point being, there is great variation.

Against Chelsea, Rico Lewis seemed to embody a bit of every system. He played in midfield dragging apart the Chelsea structure, leaving space for the likes of De Bruyne and Savinho. He also played as an extra man in possession and was comfortable to take the ball from deep and advance through the pitch. On top of this he was defensively outstanding. He wasn’t dribbled past once, made two vital tackles and won four duels. The nineteen-year old seems to have been bred for a Guardiola system.

Yet, this structure did have it’s downfalls which makes one wonder if there is longevity in it. With so many players forward it leaves them vulnerable on the counter, particularly in the middle of the park. The open spaces left suggest a lack of respect to Chelsea, they perhaps felt that the blues didn’t have the quality to hurt them.

Moreover, Chelsea are so fragile defensively. Even in pre-season the writing was on the wall. The persistence to play a high line without a cohesive back four, leaves them vulnerable time and time again.

Matteo Kovacic’s second goal

This still frame is entirely revealing of the structural issues at Chelsea.

Here we have the Chelsea defensive half. Matteo Kovacic picks up the ball with little pressure being applied. Against most sides he would pass to De Bruyne and City would try to probe away into the box. A straight route to goal shouldn’t be an option.

Outside the Chelsea box they outnumber the visitors by five players to one, there should be no plausible situation where the Croat can advance into this space and get a shot away without being pressured. Yet, that is exactly what happens. School boy defending at the highest level.

This comes straight after losing the ball from trying to play out from the back. Trying to play out from defence is what all teams tend to do at the top of the game now. Yet, there is defensive thinking in this idea. You have to have a structure which allows you to lose the ball and be compact and have a solid chance of regaining possession. For example, Arne Slot’s Liverpool crowd the central areas for this reason exactly: even if they lose the ball in their own third they still outnumber the opposition and counter-press. Yet Chelsea looked star-struck, they seemed confused, it was like watching a freak show on a football park.

The Issues

The issues at Chelsea are from top to bottom.

Let’s take a look at the squad. Forty-two first-team players are on the books. To put into perspective that includes six goalkeepers and eight forwards . Romelu Lukaku is still on the books meanwhile Angelo, Jackson, Madueke, Neto, Guiu (on loan), Mudryk and Sterling are all available to select for a front three.

Furthermore, much of their squad is on multi-year deals running as far as 2032.

It makes you wonder how they can even complete the basics? How do you orchestrate a training session for forty-two players? How do you even fit them in the same changing room?

Trying to foster any sort of collectivity and togetherness must be impossible.

We could go on for days about this Chelsea club, but in short they are unique. A unique mess.

(Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

Takeaways

As with any opening day game, it’s difficult to reach any real conclusions. Good performances or bad, there is no relativity. We don’t have data to show where either side is truly at.

Still, the signs from Manchester City was rather ominous. Against one of the few sides that they failed to beat last season, they reached new levels and comfortably swatted them aside. With the likes of Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Oscar Bobb, Nathan Ake, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo and Rodri all either benched, dropped or unavailable the squad depth is looking the best it has since Guardiola’s reign.

Five in a row has never been done, but this winning machine will fancy itself.