by Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham side have been a scourge in Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side, and his Chelsea side have also been a scourge this season.
After a 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge in which City were destabilized defensively, Pochettino has a firm claim to have won the tactical battle in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at the Etihad.
Chelsea reached the Treble winners with alarming ease on the counter attack, even if City can point to a hat-trick of missed chances from Erling Haaland.
Pochettino will be delighted with his team’s performance, which bodes well for next Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Liverpool at Wembley.
The result means Liverpool and Arsenal have overtaken City in the Premier League title race. Telegraph Sport analyzes how Chelsea produced one of the most convincing displays of the season.
Moving on from Thiago Silva
Pochettino left Thiago Silva on the bench for Chelsea’s impressive FA Cup win at Aston Villa, and here was further evidence that Chelsea could be better off without their 39-year-old centre-back.
Silva is one of the best defenders of his generation, but in the autumn of his career he likes to drop out and see the game in front of him.
This poses a problem for Pochettino, whose best teams are built on attacking pressure from the front. For this approach out of possession to be effective, your central defenders must push up the field to prevent the team’s units from separating from each other.
With Silva ruled out through injury, Pochettino paired Axel Disasi with Levi Colwill. Given the way City monopolize the ball, this wasn’t going to be a contest where Chelsea’s defense could play high per se, but their shape was certainly closer than we’ve seen in some of their seasons. low this season. Their back four remained linked to midfielders Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, rather than leaving them on an island.
Oftentimes a manager’s absence through injury can see him pick the right team, and this may be one case for Chelsea.
Unusual top heavy city
Guardiola prizes discipline and control from midfield, so it was strange to see City’s shape resemble a 4-2-4 at times when they attacked, with the defenders staying wide.
It was a statement of intent to pick a team that included Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku but that effectively meant City were playing with four goals. With Kevin De Bruyne also playing high, it left Rodri as the only orthodox midfielder. In this case, he was flanked by Manuel Akanji or Alvarez as a pair, but neither is a specialist midfielder.
“Our rhythm was not right,” said Guardiola. “You have to play 90 minutes at the highest level, and we only did that for one half.”
City’s “rhythm” tends to come from the way they distribute the ball, and they looked like a team missing the persona of Bernardo Silva or Ilkay Gundogan as the glue between Rodri and De Bruyne. If it was an attempt to blow Chelsea off the pitch with firepower, it backfired.
Much to the frustration of some City fans, Guardiola also decided to use Foden wide with Alavrez in the pocket, and both players struggled to influence the game in the first half.
Average positions Manchester City (lighter blue) vs Chelsea
Chelsea’s pace exposes City’s fluid back line
Nicolas Jackson and Raheem Sterling were repeatedly on the shoulders of the City defense as they faced the green grass while their team-mates had time on the ball.
When City take the play, Guardiola likes one of his back four to move alongside Rodri, creating a 3-2 shape. Earlier in his City reign, that player was a goalkeeper like Joao Cancelo or Oleksandr Zinchenko, while last season it was John Stones from centre-back. In the moments when City are shifting between shapes, they can be vulnerable.
Against Chelsea, Akanji was a substitute in Stones’ role and is not as ready as the Englishman (there is no defender in this particular task).
With Akanji in midfield, Ruben Dias is left at the heart of City’s defense as a lone centre-back, Kyle Walker wider on the right and Nathan Ake on the left. Dias endured a rough outing in the return leg at Stamford Bridge, where he conceded a penalty, and struggled to cope with the Chelsea running power provided by Conor Gallagher and Jackson.
Gallagher had the engine to break City’s midfield and get into the forward line as City’s bodies pressed forward. Jackson’s ball carrying created Chelsea’s goal, which Sterling scored, and was a constant threat. Perhaps trying to take advantage of Doku’s defensive abilities, Chelsea directed most of their attacks down the right.
Third attacking Chelsea vs Man City
Chelsea greats: Gallagher, Gusto and Disasi
Gallagher was excellent in midfield and showed exactly why Chelsea supporters don’t want to see him sold, especially to Spurs. He was one of the few Chelsea players to fully get up to speed as City turned the screw in the final 20 minutes, having been responsible for shadowing Rodri and blocking the Spaniard’s entry lanes for the game.
Gusto had a difficult task against Doku, but he excelled when he was one on one. Doku completed just three of seven takes, and no player won more tats than Gusto’s five. Reece James’ ongoing injury problems have tested Chelsea’s depth at right-back, but it looks like they have found a promising player in Gusto.
Disasi was Chelsea’s best defender, celebrating a clearance as early as the first half. The Frenchman made 17 clearances in total, the most by any Chelsea player in a Premier League game for eight years. Gusto had the second most in the game with eight.
Disasi was erratic during his first season in England, but he relished the back-to-the-wall defensive test this game presented.
