STAMFORD BRIDGE — At what point should we start worrying about the strikers?
As the game’s modern managers push football’s frontiers, incessantly innovate for the latest marginal gains, play around with shapes, tactics and positions, bend the old rules to their will, the good old-fashioned No 9s are coming under attack.
Pep Guardiola has decided that a glut of attacking midfielders and wingers can replace them just fine, while Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is determined to prove that defenders can do the job equally as well. Hard to doubt him judging from Tuesday night.
Against Juventus, when a point was needed to qualify for the Champions League knockout stage, Tuchel started with three players up front lacking size yet overflowing with speed and skill, not one of Hakim Ziyech, Callum Hudson-Odoi or Christian Pulisic a player you would describe as an out-and-out striker.
Yet for much of the game they were virtually a smokescreen, a sleight of hand, as though Tuchel had instructed the trio to act as decoys: telling them to move constantly, use their weaving off-the-ball runs to tie Juventus’s defenders in knots, act as a distraction so that the defenders – the real attackers in this plan – could do their thing. So that the five defenders on the pitch could become a tsunami of attack.
Wing-back Reece James played like a world-class winger, wing-back Ben Chilwell fearlessly shot on sight, centre-back Antonio Rudiger roamed forward freely, centre-back Trevoh Chalobah opened the scoring with a striker’s instinctive finish.
Chilwell – with four goals in 14 appearances – had already tried twice in the opening few minutes, the ball dropping to him in a good position in Juventus’s penalty area only to thrash and miscue. He was undeterred when two more shots from distance sailed over.
At one point centre-back Rudiger, perhaps becoming a little carried away, attempted to slalom his way through the entire Juventus defence, then he attacked again minutes later and dragged a low shot wide. He will, also, be credited with the assist for Chalobah’s goal, the ball (somewhat fortuitously) hitting his shoulder and dropping straight to his fellow defender.
Next it was the turn of James – with a now impressive five goals in 13 Chelsea games – standing over a free kick on the left-hand side, readying himself for an in-swinging delivery but almost catching Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny out with a cheeky effort towards the near post. The defender displaying a forward’s confidence in front of goal.
Later, he popped up on the pitch’s other side, at full speed controlling a floated ball from Hudson-Odoi with his chest before letting fly with a shot across goal with the sort of flair and style that only the best wingers can wear. In that same vein he scored Chelsea’s second goal early in the second half: finding space close to goal, controlling the ball with chest, volleying past Szczesny. It was phenomenal.
At least Thiago Silva had not forgotten that defenders are there for some defending, too, and that their art can be just as entertaining as the goals. In a rare Juventus attack, Alvaro Morata – one of that dying striker breed – slipped in behind Chelsea’s defence and clipped the ball over the on-coming Edouard Mendy. It was on target and dropping in, but Silva hurtled back and volleyed off the line, in entertaining desperation.
That one was welcomed warmly by the Chelsea supporters, who subjected their painfully disappointing former £60million striker to taunts including “Chelsea reject!” and “wanker!”. They celebrated a late Ziyech challenge on Morata and enjoyed it when the refusal of an offered Chelsea hand indicated it was all getting to him, just a little bit.
Hudson-Odoi added a deserved third just before the hour, it only being fair that it was about time the defenders let some of the attackers do some of the scoring, given they were two goals ahead and cruising. Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s quick feet drew in defenders before he popped the ball off for Hudson-Odoi to sweep in. And substitute Timo Werner became the closest thing to a striker scoring seconds before the final whistle, but even he’s not quite one.
Of course, there is the small matter of Romelu Lukaku returning, the striker back on the bench having missed a month through injury. But where does he fit the £97.5m summer signing back in?
In his absence, Chelsea have scored 20 times in seven games – averaging almost three goals a game. And seven of those have come from defenders. It will be fascinating to watch how Tuchel solves an intriguing problem. Expect it to involve a lot of defenders.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3DNppo9
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