As Chelsea’s season has taken a turn for the worse, the criticism of Frank Lampard has grown. His credentials were questioned when he was given the job, but his early successes kept critics quiet.
Now we’re struggling they can come out of the woodwork, and recently we’ve seen more and more call into doubt his training ground abilities.
Perhaps in order to counter that, one Chelsea fan on Twitter made a really interesting thread analysing the pressing strategies the team have under their new manager, using an example from our last game against Leicester.
It’s fascinating to have the play broken down for you, and it really does show the potential for progress this side has.
We’ve collected the full set of Tweets for you to view in one go here:
UPDATE: The Tweets have been deleted, meaning the images are gone, but you can still see the text element of the thread.
https://twitter.com/TomasblackCFC/status/1226499554599669760
As you can see, Chilwell (while on the ball) is pointing, asking for a passing option in midfield. This is impossible as Chelsea have formed a triangle type trap surrounding Choudhury meaning he’d be aggressively pressed if he was to receive the ball in that position. pic.twitter.com/RlGtCaRzfC
— Tomas Black (@TomasblackCFC) February 9, 2020
As you can now see, the man-on-man press is starting to form, with Odoi and Pedro focusing on Chilwell and Ricardo, while Mount and Tammy are pressing the Leicester centre backs, forcing them to pass it wide.
Choudhury isn’t an available option due to the cut passing lane. pic.twitter.com/qWVF2nyveq
— Tomas Black (@TomasblackCFC) February 9, 2020
Soyuncu passes over to Evans who, due to the angle of the press from Mount, only has one option, which is Chilwell.
Hudson-Odoi moves more infield as the focus is pushing Leicester down that right channel or trapping Choudhury if he does receive the ball. pic.twitter.com/56MXuR0Cvd
— Tomas Black (@TomasblackCFC) February 9, 2020
As Ricardo receives that pass from Evans, Chelsea have Leicester exactly where they want them, so both Pedro and Mount squeeze in on Ricardo while Jorginho follows Tielemans’ run, which rules him out as an option, this then leads to a forced error due to Chelsea’s press. pic.twitter.com/qkUvGQ3rhV
— Tomas Black (@TomasblackCFC) February 9, 2020
As you can see in the clip in the first tweet, Chelsea create a chance from this and should arguably get a penalty.
This pressing move may seem like something small, but it’s very impressive that we’re able to press and set traps to then create our own chances.
Super Frank.
— Tomas Black (@TomasblackCFC) February 9, 2020
