With a lot left to admire from this weekend’s action of football, one can easily point out Chelsea’s performance against Everton as the highlight of the week, regardless of Liverpool scoring more goals than Chelsea, it was Chelsea who stole the show.
Conte Set Up
3- At the back, a system which has been tried and tested and resulted not so successfully by a few managers in the premier league, Conte has come in and mastermind the formation play. It’s been known as an Italian philosophy to be more disciplined defensively. Antonio Conte deployed his 3-man at the back tactics after a three null loss to London rivals Arsenal. The loss proved to have been a blessing in disguise for Chelsea. The 3-4-3 offers a 3 man backline, which has been Gary Cahill, David Luiz, and Cesar Azpilicueta that is very strong against central attacks but can award space to the opposition down the flanks but that has not been the case with Chelsea, they field Marcos Alonso, a leftback who performs defensive duties and gives the Blues additional options going forward, as well as Victor Moses who adds more options on the attacking side for Chelsea. It is also important that one central midfielder in Chelsea system has the ability to cover in the defensive spots if a central defender is sucked out side to pressure the ball and Conte has arguably the two best defensive midfielders in league in the likes of N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic. These two midfielders rotate their responsibilities.
Rivals who tried 3 at the Back
Two most recent teams to execute the 3 man at the back were English giants Liverpool and Manchester United, Liverpool, also implemented the formation for the first time against Manchester United they lost the match 3-1 in the 2014/2015 season and the scoreline told a different story from Liverpool’s displayed performance. In that same season this worked particularly well for Liverpool in their 3-2 win against Tottenham earlier in the month of February at Anfield. Jordon Ibe and Lazar Markovic repeatedly attacked the Tottenham left side as Spurs defenders Danny Rose and Jan Vertonghen didn’t know how to handle Ibe and Markovic without leaving Daniel Sturridge or Mario Balotelli in too much space in the box. This is, in fact, how Liverpool found their eventual winner as Ibe and Adam Lallana, who had replaced Markovic, combined down the right wing to pull Spurs defense out of position. This created space in the box for Balotelli to move into where he then scored an easy tap-in goal for the Reds. United’s case wasn’t really so successfully under LVG and that became evident due to the fans complaining about the team’s style of play week-in and week-out.
Back to Stamford Bridge
After admitting that the 3-4-3 was his second preference, it may seem as if it was the best preferences for Conte, after kicking of the season with 4-2-4 system he wasn’t as satisfied about the team’s play and more especially the results. Chelsea have emerged as the Premier League's form team since Conte's decision to switch to 3-4-3 at half-time of a 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in late September, scoring 16 goals and conceding none to record five consecutive victories. That on its own is a great collection of stats.
Chelsea as a team have not committed any defensive errors, recording also the most clean sheets (6), second highest goal scoring team (26), only Liverpool has more (30), 4th with number of Passes sitting on 5,956 passes, they have also recorded same number of wins as Liverpool (8), 186 shots which makes them the fifth best team with shots, 23 goals inside the box level with Arsenal only Liverpool exceeds both teams with 25 goals in the box, 211 tackles thus far. And Only Tottenham (6) have conceded less goals than Chelsea’s (9)
Player Performance
When teamwork proves to be everything in a team it’s never really a good idea to single out individuals on their performance because we always want promote the idea of team effort. Chelsea have been solid as a team and there are of course players who seem to have revived their form and with that, that has rubbed off in giving the team a good fortune.
· Eden Hazard, his performance once again against Everton was magical. Eden Hazard's new role in Chelsea's 3-4-3 system is making it easier for him to show his talent and shine in the "supersonic" intensity of Premier League football, according to head coach Antonio Conte.
"Eden is playing now more close to the goal," Conte explained. "He's participating more in offensive situations. I think it's better for him, this type of situation, which sees him staying in a position where he can finish easier compared to in the past. For this reason, I think and I want him to continue in this way. It's important in this type of football, this modern football, you must have talent and technique, but also run with intensity. You must have the strength to cope with contact. Modern football is this. You must have the talent, but support it with strength, speed and technique.”
The 2014/2015 player of the season has now scored seven goals -- more than his total for Chelsea in the entirety of last season, this is a resurgence in the Belgian’s form thus far in 2016/2017 season. He has featured in more Premier games than, Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil (9), Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho (10), Man United’s Paul Pogba (9) and Man City’s Kevin de Bryune (10). He is averaging an 85% pass completion rate level with Pogba but second to Ozil’s 87%. 455 that’s the number of successful passes only Pogba 525 and Ozil 472 has a better figure. Goals Scored from outside the box is 1 only de Bryune and Philippe Coutinho are sitting on 2. He also total’s a tally of 34 shot second to Philippe Coutinho’s 41.
· N’Golo Kante; signed from last season’s champion Leicester City, Kante has been impeccable for Conte, partnering Matic in midfield. He has been a solider in the Blues midfield, giving out 10/10 performance on a consistent basis for the London Blues. Kante and Manchester City’s Fernandinho have played 11 games each more the Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka, Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson and Manchester United’s Ander Herrera. Kante is also amongst the top five passers, he sit on 4th with 729 passes, Fernandinho is second with 834 passes and topping them is Jordan Henderson with 904 passes. Danny Drinkwater and Henderson are equal on the number of tackles executed (47) while Kante sits on (33) and Fernandinho is on (28). Kante’s defensive partner, (Matic) allows him to be more cautious because he is partnered by another defensive midfielder who is as tactical and technically aware defensively. This is effective for Conte because this lets the backline 3 less vulnerable to midfield turnover and teams attacking from the middle.
· Diego Costa; the striking beast is arguable the best striker in the league currently alongside Sergio Aguero. Costa is the leading goalscorer of the league with 9 goals to his name and is second with 8 goals. Costa has been a working force upfront for Chelsea and he has delivered as requested. 964 minutes of game time, Costa has tallied a total of 37 shots third best after Aguero (44) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (57). Costa’s scoring touch has been more on the right foot, where he has produced the goods 8 times and only once on his left foot. None of his goals have been headers, only Romelu Lukaku has scored more headed goals and goals with his left foot amongst the top leading strikers. The Beast could be commended on his accuracy, with 7 shots outside the area he has scored 2 goals. The Spanish forward is also not as selfish as one would suggest, he has three assists to his name and that’s same number of assists as Lukaku. Lukakua also goes on to edge Costa in chances created, Lukaku has 19 chance created and Costa seconds him with 16 and also with shot accuracy it’s a 74% average for the Belgian forward and Costa is second with 68%.
Its safe and sensible to say that Antonio Conte has assembled a title-winning team and has the quality in depth and has implemented a winning system for Chelsea. Everton Manager Ronald Koeman, spoke highly of Chelsea and their display of football on Saturday when they ran over his team.
Koeman: “Chelsea showed us today very high level of football in every aspect of football,’ the Dutchman said.
‘How they work, how they run, how they press – we can learn from them. It’s a big lesson what happened today.
‘I never saw a team playing so well this system. This system is very difficult to play against, the movement of the players, Hazard.”
If already opponents are sending praises then Mr Conte could enjoy watching his team week in and week out. What is also fantastic about Chelsea and Conte is that the resurrection of some players, notably Victor Moses, Paul Scholes also came out and stated that as a Chelsea fan you could be happy with Moses’s progression under Conte. Moses has scored two goals and averaged three defensive actions-per-game in 10 Premier League appearances this season, winning 55% of his duels, and that’s a rather impressive set of stat too look at.
Next up for them following the international break is an away clash at Middlesbrough, before taking on Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge.
Can they maintain their impressive form?
Source on Stats: http://www.squawka.com/news/teams/chelsea
