Chelsea boss Tuchel shows his genius in tactical masterstroke vs Spurs to outsmart rival Conte with new formation
THOMAS Tuchel decided to use a formation on Sunday that he had never used before as a starting Xl as Chelsea boss.
And he did it in what was perhaps one of the most important games of the season for Chelsea so far – in terms of the Premier League anyway.
Bold? Brave? Silly? Risky? Genius? You can ask a lot of questions about the decision to do this in the 2-0 win over Tottenham on Sunday.
But for me, it once again just shows the tenacity and tactical genius of this man.
He literally trumped Antonio Conte and outfoxed him once again, and it’s not the first time in the last few weeks that he has done this.
Having faced Tottenham three times in a matter of weeks now, he has basically changed his formation on every occasion.
Playing the same team so often in a short space of time can be detrimental because you know exactly how they play and exactly how they line up.
So how do you conquer that? You change your formation, and it has worked a treat for Tuchel in his battle with Conte recently.
When he went 4-4-2 recently in the Carabao Cup semi-final, Conte decided to match that at half time after Chelsea were dominating, and it did help his side grow back into the tie.
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But on Sunday, Tuchel lined up with what he describes as a 4-1-4-1 formation and Conte had no ideas, clearly being surprised by this change of line up once again.
It is probably largely forced from Tuchel due to injuries to his best and main wing-backs, Ben Chilwell and Reece James.
So there is a question whether he would have been changing his formation so much if he still had his main wing-backs to continue with a back three.
But I think that he would have, IF we were getting poor results and in poor form like we have been recently.
I think he would be changing our line-up to try and get back in form again, because he is a top manager.
This formation brought out our players’ strengths, especially Callum Hudson-Odoi and Hakim Ziyech, who were both allowed to play in their natural winger positions.
Hudson-Odoi was quiet in the first half but he thrived on the left wing in the second half, creating a goal for Ziyech, who was equally as fantastic and much more comfortable on the right wing.
The former Ajax man has been struggling since coming to Chelsea, but he has not really been able to play in the position and formation he was bought in to play.
He prefers to be a right winger in the 4-3-3 formation, which is much closer to Chelsea’s line-up on Sunday, and it was no surprise to see him thriving and scoring a world class goal.
Others also thrived, such as Mason Mount who was playing in a deeper 8 role, and is much more comfortable and much better playing there.
The captain Cesar Azpilicueta was playing in his more natural right full back position rather than a wing-back, and he is much better there and is less stretched.
The line up has positives and negatives, like they all do, but on Sunday we only saw the positives and it makes you wonder if Tuchel will start using this formation more this season while he is still without key wing-backs to play a back three.
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