Chelsea losing battles across the pitch simply because speed kills

Chelsea’s opponents are alighting on a very simple way to defeat the Blues’ individual quality and tactical structure: be faster. Chelsea’s lack of speed in all areas of the pitch is proving to be their greatest vulnerability.

Around this time last season the Premier League started figuring out how to overcome Chelsea’s previously indomitable 3-4-3. The main keys – as Tottenham showed when they ended Chelsea’s 13-game winning streak – were to exploit the space behind the wing-backs and split the centre-backs in the air.

The space behind the wing-backs is still a vulnerability. But teams with far less tactical acumen or quality players than Tottenham or Manchester United are threatening Chelsea simply by being faster than the Blues in key areas on the pitch.

Bournemouth were only the latest side to find success by running at Chelsea’s defenders. More often than not, Callum Wilson and Jordan Ibe “running at” resulted in them “running past” Gary Cahill and Cesar Azpilicueta. The heart of the Cherries’ gameplan was to pressure Chelsea’s defenders with speed. This took the form of a high press when the Blues were in possession, and direct counter-attacking runs when Bournemouth were on the ball. The opening goal was the best example of this, but far from the first io the game.

Cahill and Marcos Alonso are the Blues’ most obvious vulnerabilities in pace. Alonso is a very intelligent footballer. He knows where and how to position himself to control the space around him. He is also a strong tackler, so when he closes down an opponent Chelsea often regain possession. But if the opponent can approach Alonso with a full head of steam and dodge around him or get the jump on him, Alonso is out of the play.

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Gary Cahill usually plays behind Alonso on the left, inviting waves of high-speed attacks on this side. Antonio Rudiger has better movement than Cahill, which brings him into the side more often. But Rudiger is usually too busy using his speed to cover for his own tactical mistakes than covering for his teammates’.

With Rudiger on the left after Andreas Christensen went off with injury on Wednesday, Bournemouth shifted their attack to Chelsea’s right. Cesar Azpilicueta is even smarter and a better tackler than Marcos Alonso. But he is only marginally faster. And with Gary Cahill pinching up to support Azpilicueta, Ibe and Wilson made short work to pull this pair out of position and drive towards goal.

The obvious option to compensate for the defenders’ slowness is to have them play deeper and reduce the space behind them. But this only invites a high press like Bournemouth’s. And it further disconnects the centre-backs from the midfielders at a time when Chelsea are already struggling to link play through midfield to play the ball out.

At the other end of the pitch, Chelsea are no longer using their own press to hamper the opponent’s ability to start the play. Willian’s and Pedro’s fluctuating form may be one factor. For the first half the season, neither consistently fulfilled his basic offensive duties. Conte may have reduced their workload in the hopes of conserving energy to focus on scoring. Another factor may be their age, as they are approaching the point in their careers where both top speed and repeated-sprint endurance starts to decline.

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The lack of a consistent midfield partner for N’Golo Kante, and the Frenchman’s own fatigue, limit the full employment of speed through midfield. Kante is not pressing as much as he did last year when he had Nemanja Matic as his steady partner. Kante’s trademark presence last season was pressing high with the wingers or wing-backs to create an overload, then darting back to join in the defence.

This season Kante needs to take a more conservative role. Tiemoue Bakayoko is not the reliable defensive midfielder Matic was, and the workload for club and country is taking its toll on Kante.

The need for speed underlies the importance of squad depth and squad rotation. Fast players get tired, and then they become slow players. Chelsea, though, have few fast players to begin with. They loaned the one player who had the raw speed to compensate for these deficienies. Unfortunately, Kenedy did not appear to have the tactical sensibilities necessary to put his athleticism to good use.

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Bournemouth showed how a mediocre side with strong tactics and fast players can overwhelm the Blues. That does not bode well for playing a team like Manchester City which has superlative levels of quality, tactics and speed.