Chelsea’s loss to AS Roma should be the death knell for this 3-4-3
By George Perry
If Chelsea continue with the 3-4-3 after their horrifying Halloween at AS Roma, they will be approaching the standard definition of insanity. Not even N’Golo Kante can save this formation, and Antonio Conte no longer has the luxury of easing in his next innovation.
Chelsea’s 3-4-3 is on the inevitable down-slope that all innovations eventually traverse. At this point, the competition is more adept at defeating the 3-4-3 than Chelsea is at implementing it. The only thing more damning than the Blues’ predictability in their year-old formation is their seeming ineptitude in it.
AS Roma inflicted the most damage on Chelsea, but they are far from the first to neutralize Antonio Conte’s system. The Blues’ defence handed Roma their three goals, and the offence gifted Allison his clean sheet. But the Giallorossi did little more than follow the playbook written by a string of Chelsea opponents, starting with Tottenham last January and continuing to Bournemouth on the weekend. Even though Chelsea won, the Cherries showed how to keep the Blues out of the box through man-marking and narrowly-spaced lines.
Without N’Golo Kante, Chelsea are helpless in transitioning from defence to offence. The 3-4-3 requires a strong press to manage this transition. Kante is the core of the Blues’ press, applying intelligent and direct pressure to the opponent’s backs.
He serves a dual role. Simply by pressing and keeping the ball high up the pitch, he buys time for Chelsea’s defence to organize themselves. Given the physical and mental attributes of the back-line, they need all the time he can manage.
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Second, by recovering into a defensively useful position within seconds of the ball moving past him, he directly protects the back-line. Two lines of opponent ball-carriers – the backs and the midfielders – must get past Kante before they have the much easier task of taking on David Luiz or Antonio Rudiger.
The Blues’ wingers – Pedro or Willian, particularly – can complement Kante when he is there but cannot replace him when he is gone. They cannot execute the press, let alone cover into defence once the play advances.
However, even with Kante’s immense plays-like-two-men abilities back in the lineup, the Blues cannot persist in the 3-4-3. Clubs ranging from Crystal Palace to AS Roma have found plenty of joy taking over the space behind Chelsea’s wing-backs, particularly on the left behind Marcos Alonso. Bournemouth and others restricted Chelsea’s ability to shoot from under 20 yards by playing two tight lines at the top of the box, giving Chelsea width and range but nothing useful.
And Roma did what all other clubs have so far only threatened to do, until the football gods came to Blues’ rescue: Roma made Chelsea pay for their defensive calamities. Roma’s three goals were clean, well-struck and well-taken. But none of those opportunities – nor the miss that should have been a fourth – ever should have happened.
Antonio Conte talks about finding the right “suit” for his team. Right now, Chelsea’s 3-4-3 is like Marge Simpson’s pink Chanel suit from the discount outlet. The Blues found smashing success on something they stumbled upon quite by luck at a fraction of the price. But now, no matter how many do-it-yourself alterations and re-cuts Conte makes to it, everyone knows it’s just the same suit.
Unlike Marge, Antonio Conte cannot just go to the store and buy a new suit. He has two months and 13 games until he can add anything new. Instead, he must scrap everything down to the level of raw materials and create a new suit from scratch.
Last season, Chelsea succeeded in part because he showed no favourtism or preference for any player or formation. This season he is far too wedded to his lineup and tactics. Swapping Pedro for Willian or shifting Azpilicueta from centre-back to wing-back are no longer rejuvenating the run of play or the team’s fortunes. The same faces in the same set-up, even if a few are in slightly different positions, is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
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The 3-4-3 is dead. The sooner Conte can make his peace and bury it, the sooner the Blues can move on and return to winning.