Chelsea fans have been right all season about Antonio Conte’s error

Chelsea’s stroll to the title has suddenly turned into a desperate scramble in the last few weeks, and one of the chief causes is a weakness that many Chelsea fans identified long ago.

The switch to a 343 may have been the vital moment that still could win the Blues the title, but it also exposed them to a great weakness that has seriously hurt them in losses to Crystal Palace and Manchester United in the last month.

The 343 relies heavily on its wing backs, and while Chelsea have an outstanding first choice pair in Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses, they have no depth behind that.

Cesar Azpilicueta is pretty much the only cover in those positions, and putting him there removes him from the back three where he has been immaculate this season.

In both recent losses, losing Moses and then Alonso has disrupted Chelsea’s flow massively. Antonio Conte can hardly be blamed too much given that he is just working with the tools he inherited, but  Chelsea fans have been worried since the day of the formation switch that there was a real lack of depth in those spots, and they have now been proven right.

The failure to address that issue in January was a mistake – let’s hope it wasn’t a deadly one.

 

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