Chelsea FC Tactics and Transfers: Part 1
In Tactics and Transfers, we’re going to examine two of the perhaps most important factors in determining the successes of Chelsea FC.
Silly season as we call it here at The Pride of London has almost begun and it’s time for Chelsea FC in particular to take a long, hard look at themselves. The way they have been conducting club business for the last couple of years can’t be described as anything other than a massive failure. It culminated in the embarrassment that was this year’s worst ever title defense in history.
Piet De Visser, Chelsea FC’s chief scout, has gone on record saying this will be a “very busy summer” and yet the Blues have seen little action take place in the market place. Bayern Munich, for instance, have already finished the majority of their transfer business with the signings of both Renato Sanches and Mats Hummels.
Having said that, I think it is genuinely possible that Chelsea could make all of the necessary signings from within the loan army. Yet rather than doing that, they will spend massive amounts of money to only further alienate many of those very players who could have such bright futures at the club.
Antonio Conte is a big fan of several different tactical set ups. In the coming weeks we will examine how Chelsea FC can play with each of these and how they can build the team with a minimal amount of spending.
This week’s tactic is 3-5-2. Louis Van Gaal gave this tactic a bad name during his time in the Premier League. The reason for this, though, appears to be far more of a consequence of his abysmal transfer spending and squad utilization than the tactical choice.
If Chelsea were to line-up in the 3-5-2 it would hopefully look something like this: Courtois; Zouma, Cahill, Ivanovic; Cuadrado, Fabregas, Nainggolan, Loftus-Cheek, Ake; Costa and Hazard up top.
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Eden Hazard could be freed by this position as the second striker as it most resembles the number 10 role and trequartista position that he has been wanting his entire career. He became proficient in tracking back as a winger but that was never a strong point in his game. Allowing him to drift into the room invariably created by Diego Costa’s hostilities could be a great decision for Chelsea.
In order for that setup to happen the only actual signing Chelsea need to spend any money on is Radja Nainggolan. This is a player whom Chelsea have been linked with for months now and as of yet there has been nothing concrete.
Should they be able to put together a deal for between £38-35 million, that would be a reasonable piece of business to do. If not, then in his place I would suggest playing either Nemanja Matic (even though he forgot how to play football this season) or Cesar Azpilicueta.
That sounds crazy, I know, because Azpilicueta has never started at DM before in his life. All of that said, I would like to see Azpilicueta get a couple matches in the DM position. He is a tidy player with great tackling and game-reading ability; he resembles very closely the stature and poise of Claude Makelele or Javier Zanetti.
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That probably won’t happen because my tactical genius has yet gone unnoticed but it could absolutely work in the same way for Chelsea as it did when Pep Guardiola moved Philipp Lahm to that position at Bayern Munich.
Chelsea would then have to recall Nathan Ake from Watford where he won Young Player of the Year this year to follow on his Young Player of the Year award he won at Chelsea. He did this playing mostly in the LB/LWB positions but he also played CB and DM for Watford during his time.
Conte is very fond of defenders and midfielders who are good with the ball at their feet and Nathan Ake absolutely is. It is time to give him a shot.
Conte is said to be a big fan of Juan Cuadrado and his hard running style. Unfortunately, 3-5-2 does require wing backs and though Azpilicueta is an incredibly strong defensive left or right back he lacks deeply in attacking prowess.
Cuadrado, meanwhile, has come back to life during his time at Juventus and it seems like it was mainly a case of poor man-management by Jose Mourinho that turned him into the shell he was during his half season in West London.
If the Cuadrado that decimated Bayern Munich during the Champions League for Juventus shows up, Chelsea could have an incredibly strong player on their hands.
Quite honestly, rather than spending a fortune in the transfer market this summer I think that the smarter thing to do would be to sort out the loan army. Conte should get the players who actually stand a chance of playing for Chelsea ingratiated into the squad en route to reclaiming a Champions League spot.
Next: Chelsea FC’s Top 30 Transfers Of All Time
Overspending on player salaries to compensate for a lack of Champions League football is a surefire way to run into FFP (Financial Fair Play) issues. If Chelsea can re-establish a home grown culture and move the prize-winning youngsters into the squad, they will also know be able to figure out whom they actually need to buy.