A win for the Blues, but not for the diamond
In a new weekly feature I hope to maintain every Monday, I’ll be taking a look at a game or two and the tactical nuances that serve as the difference between a win, loss or draw. After all, in a game of 90 minutes, it’s the little things that speak loudest.
2009 COMMUNITY SHIELD
Chelsea 2, Manchester United 2 (Chelsea win 4-1 on penalties)
CHELSEA
———————–Cech———————
Ivanovic——Carvalho——–Terry———A.Cole
———————Mikel Obi——————–
——Essien————————Malouda——
———————Lampard——————
————–Drogba——–Anelka—————
UNITED
————–Berbatov———Rooney————-
Park———Fletcher———-Carrick———Nani
Evra———Evans———-Ferdinand——-O’Shea
———————–Foster———————
Though we are still an agonizing week away from the real start of the English domestic season, yesterday’s Community Shield provided a good look at Chelsea’s new-ish formation, and the teething troubles were evident. The midfield diamond… can it work for Chelsea and Carlo Ancelotti?
For Chelsea, the midfield diamond will continue to be a tricky proposition, as their personnel are better and more naturally suited to the formation that Guus Hiddink and his various predecessors preferred. The adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” comes to mind, but Ancelotti’s earned enough respect in the managerial game to bring in his template and hope that the pieces fall into place. Yesterday showed that it might take a while.
The first issue with the diamond is the lack of natural width it provides on the pitch. The two “wide” players are kept tight toward the middle, allowing plenty of space for wingers and full-backs to attack down the channels. As early as the 5th minute and Fergie was tinkering, flipping Ji-Sung Park and Nani in the formation in order to do just that; Nani, an attack-first winger, had acres of room to run at Ivanovic as Essien, still adjusting to not playing at the base of the midfield (he was pushed right to accommodate Mikel), found himself constantly drifting infield and leaving additional room. Meanwhile, on the other flank, Park was more than capable of checking Cole’s efforts to join the attack, forcing him to stay back and defend.
The Evra/Nani pairing in particular was too much to handle, and it created United’s first goal; Evra’s overlap forced Ivanovic to stay wide, giving Nani an eternity to cut inside and shoot without pressure from Essien, another one who struggled to adjust to the new system.
Things improved after half-time with the introduction of Bosingwa; with a competent attacking full-back on either wing, United’s assault became more cautious down the flanks for fear of overexposing themselves at the back.
It says a lot that Chelsea’s 2nd goal came from a rare Evra attack that Ballack brutally halted (it should have been at least a yellow card, and certainly a stoppage in play), allowing Lampard to drift into the empty space and finish with ease. Exactly the sort of thing Fergie may have feared once his full-backs got in motion far down the pitch.
Essien: put him back in the middle!
The second issue concerns the base of the diamond. Decisions need to be made as John Obi Mikel and Michael Essien are variants on the same theme; both love to control the game from in front of the center-backs, and with Essien spread wider right, he frequently drifted inside to his natural position leaving Ivanovic even more exposed. When you consider Bosingwa’s lack of reliable defensive aptitude (as illustrated on Rooney’s goal when he let the striker run inside him and then failed to put in much of a tackle), it’s vital that the demarcation of responsibilities is ironed out to ensure no man gets isolated at the back without midfield cover.
Similarly, Malouda and Lampard struggled early to define their roles at the front end of the diamond; Malouda, often used as an advanced left-winger or additional striker in last season’s 4-3-3, had difficulty adapting to a more withdrawn midfield role, while Lampard was forced to come so deep into midfield to receive possession that Anelka and Drogba were frequently isolated up front, an ocean of space between the diamond and their diagonal, timed runs aimed at cracking United’s offside trap.
Things improved as the game went on, mainly thanks to Lampard’s willingness to cover the entire United half in search of possession, but United’s ease in creating scoring opportunities will cause some concern. Fergie’s men were able to cause trouble with one attacking full-back and the long-range passing accuracy of Fletcher and Carrick who played plenty of searching, diagonal balls to the corners in search of teammates running into space; teams that show bravery down both flanks (like Arsenal) should find similar success.
The diamond relies on discipline of its practitioners and a trust in the formation that everyone involved is more than capable of sticking to the script. With the assortment of midfield weaponry Chelsea possess and their natural preferences on the pitch (Lampard and Ballack prefer the dynamic central attacking role, while Essien and Mikel both like being central in front of the defense), it’ll take some time for players to settle in their new roles.
The lack of midfield width also puts additional pressure on the full-backs to get up and support the attack, which leaves room over the top that can be exploited on the counter.
Anelka and Drogba: which one will do the dirty work tracking back?
With regard to the strikers, Anelka and Drogba performed well, though they need to come back up the pitch more in search of possession lest they get isolated from the midfield and possession of the ball. Both frontmen fit the classic striker role in that they rely on steady service around the box in order to thrive, and they’ll need to show more enterprise in drifting deep and wide to get involved (something Anelka did a lot in the 2nd half).
It’s only one game, but we can only analyze what’s put in front of us. Time will tell whether the continental diamond can work in the fast and physical EPL, but this preview showed there’s still plenty of work to be done. The integration of Joe Cole and new signing Yuri Zhirkov, two players that must be played wide, into this compact system might force a change in formation altogether, and on this viewing it wouldn’t be a bad thing for the Blues to go back to their modified 4-3-3 where the players are comfortable and can shine. Time will tell whether this diamond is forever.
Nice breakdown, LB.
I’ve always hated on JO Mikel for what I perceive as general ineptitude and hard fouls, yet this diamond formation seems to actually play to those strengths. If he can stay just in front of the center backs, he may be able to live up to his “potential.”
Woulda been more fun to write this column had the lads lost, eh, Lingering? ;-)
Still, I agree that the jury will be out for a bit.
Ha, maybe Auto, though the diamond had nothing to do with United’s shocking penalty-taking abilities! :)
Thanks Nathaniel! And yes, Mikel might thrive here, though I wonder if there’s room for he and Essien when both want to play that same central position. Maybe Mikel could move out wide as he’s more energetic… not entirely sure yet.
I’m not sure what Ancelotti said in the dressing room, but Chelski sure did come out firing in the 2nd half. Maybe he actually drew a diagram of this “diamond?”
John Obi Mikel Obi John is a massive t**t.
Ha, he drew the diamond properly (unlike my scatter-brained 1st effort above)… likely it was the addition of Bosingwa who gave them attacking options down both flanks, as United couldn’t clone Ji-Sung Park to sit on both wings at the same time!
The other flaw that seemed to emerge from the diamond from a Chelsea point of view is that, too frequently, Anelka and Drogba had to drift wide to cover the wings on attack, leaving no one (or Essien) in the box to poach.
Ancellotti may be better served by playing that diamond the way O’Neill used it at the end of the 07/08 season: he had Reo-Coker holding and playing up to Petrov and Barry, with Ashley Young playing as a libero, free to gallop down either wing, or play through the center. For Chelsea, this would work best with Essien holding, Frankie and Ballack driving the attack forward from box to box, and Malouda streaking down the wings with support from the fullbacks.
Lampard was playing in a rather “Gerrardian” position in the first. He didn’t look comfortable and barely made a contribution. The second was better from him, but he never really got into the match until late around the time when he hit the go ahead goal.
Bosingwa gave Chelsea some great width in the second, and at times United were really spread thin as Chels just moved the ball around them with ease.
@Keith: exactly. I noted the same thing. Anelka was always floating to the left wing to get a touch, and the box was empty. They’ll need to sort that out quickly, especially as neither Anelka nor Drogba are the types to do that kind of heavy lifting. They want ball around the 18, shoot, score, repeat etc.
@epiblast: he was rather lost being that deep in midfield. I saw very little of his dynamism moving forward, the classic runs he enjoys to make where he was space in front of him to really gallop at center-backs. More often than not, he was receiving the ball standing still with his back to goal. Not easy to maneuver from there.
Thought that Rooney was drifting way too far back and United were essentially playing with five mids. It might work with someone up top who has a better workrate but Berbs doesn’t fit that bill well at all.
@PR: I don’t think he’s disciplined enough to stay forward where they need him to be. I was thinking about writing that up next week or later in the month if the pattern continues. One to watch!
I don’t care much for Chelsea, and that’s an understatement, but Essien for me must play where Obi was playing yesterday. He’s immense in that role. I don’t think there is anyone better. Lampard looked lost in the first half, and then when Deco came on, he was told to go to the left, but pretty much just stayed in the center. Interesting stuff all around. Looking forward to this tactics-related post as the season continues.
LB, I think you’ve got more than enough to go on with Rooney- he seems to want to be a midfield dynamo more than a striker. There were stretches in the beginning of last season where, for both United and England, he played more “in the hole” than he did as an out and out striker. This became a non-issue in the Premier League season because Ronaldo eventually came back, but this year he won’t get that help, barring a Robbie Keane Situation. Now, this may become moot if Michael Owen hits his form, as he does have the workrate to find space in the box for Rooney’s Zidane Fantasies, but 1) that’s a big if (witness the Rooney-Owen pairing for England last year), and b) on days where it’s Rooney-Berbatov up top, United might end up starved for goals.
I’ve noticed that when the service to the United strikers is lacking Rooney will drop back to receive the ball at around the center circle or further yet, essentially cutting off Berba–or whomever else–and leaving him isolated at the top. The change forces United into a “kick and chase and hold” type of style.
PR, I was actually pleasantly surprised by the lazy f**king Bulgarian in the first half. I thought he actually showed something that resembled effort. And I agree about Rooney. I think SAF might need to give Wayne a stylish new necklace right after putting electric fencing in at Old Trafford.
@Keith:
You’re right… I just want to see their attempt to adjust this coming weekend first, as they’ll need to address it! I wonder where goals are going to come from if their strikers insist on playing in the midfield. Plus, Rooney will be a lot easier for center-backs to mark because they don’t have to worry about a Ronaldo threat anymore.
@epi @WSR
It amazes me that strikers with that low workrate of Berbatov can still exist in the modern game. Everyone needs to be able to do everything these days, and Berbatov’s slackness is a real killer.
Eh… Le Sulk can be phenomenally lazy and he won the Golden Boot last season, didn’t he.
If Owen stays healthy, his PT will go up while Berb’s goes down.
If I were Dwight/Sipowicz/Milton, I might try switching Rooney and Scholes, as Scholes is losing the pace to play a full 90 in midfield, but still works and has an eye for goal, and Rooney wants so desparately to play the midfield. Having Scholes up top partnered with Owen or Le Altre Sulk might actually work, as Rooney can then crunch people in the middle of the park and work toward goal from the center circle (which will allow him to work off the ball and find seams in the defense to run through, something he really does excel at), Scholes can draw coverage and do the dirty work in the box, and Owen/Berba can do what they do best- pick up the crumbs and drive them home.