Chelsea made little of prolonged possession and passing in West Ham’s box
By George Perry
Chelsea made themselves at home in West Ham’s penalty area on Sunday, racking up touches, passes and shots but only a single goal. Joe Hart deserves some credit, but the Blues deserve most of the blame.
Frustrated Chelsea fans and pundits often accuse the Blues of trying to pass the ball into the net. For once, the statistics come close to supporting that claim. Chelsea completed 24 of 36 passes inside West Ham’s penalty area on Sunday. By contast, Chelsea completed 74 passes in the entire final third against Manchester City.
But the Blues actually did more than just pass. They also took 15 shots in the area, with three coming from inside the six-yard box. Every forward – starters and substitutes – had at least one shot in the penalty area. Only one player, though, had multiple shots in the six-yard box. Striker Alvaro Morata? World-class No. 10 Eden Hazard? No, the six-yard box is a place for goal-scorers. Only Cesar Azpilicueta had two attempts within arm’s reach of Joe Hart.
The Blues dominated the deep possession and shooting game to a greater extent than any other fixture this season. Chelsea’s biggest Premier League win of 2017/18 was 5-0 over Stoke at Stamford Bridge on December 30. In that fixture they had eight shots in the penalty area and one in the six-yard box. They also completed only four of 16 passes in the penalty area – a much lower completion rate and on fewer than half the attempts as Sunday’s fixture.
Many other broad game stats were similar between the two fixtures. Chelsea had about 59% possession in each and a comparable number of passes (594 vs. 653). Yet they scored four more goals against Stoke than against West Ham, and those goals were higher quality than Azpilicueta’s weak dribbler.
Must Read: Player ratings vs. West Ham: Is this a Europa League-calibre XI?
The main difference between the games was the quality of the shots. Chelsea took 21 shots against Stoke City and 23 against West Ham. But over half of their shots against Stoke were on target, compared to about a quarter against West Ham.
The Hammers blocked three times as many Chelsea shots as Stoke did. This is the peril of spending so much time in the box. West Ham are already going to defend deep and dense against Chelsea if they have the time to organize. As Chelsea passed the ball about West Ham’s box, the Hammers had the time to stack their defenders between the ball and Joe Hart.
West Ham gave Chelsea’s playmakers a generous amount of time on the ball. They made no urgent efforts to close down Cesc Fabregas or Cesar Azpilicueta hovering outside the box. West Ham struggled to cover N’Golo Kante when he pushed forward with the ball in the final third, and likewise left him alone when Chelsea recycled the ball to him. The Blues had the time to make use of the all the space and their creation options in the final third. Instead, their forwards succumbed to tunnel vision once they were in West Ham’s area.
The penalty area is not a promising place for prolonged possession because it concentrates the defenders. Any concept of space and distorting the defence vanishes when eight defenders are between the ball and the goalkeeper. The best an attacking team can hope for in those situations are chaos and a lucky bounce, such as Jamie Vardy and Dele Alli exploited against Chelsea in recent weeks, and Cesar Azpilicueta did for Chelsea on Sunday.
Chelsea needed better decision-making in their passing and shooting. That is at least something Antonio Conte can work on in training and over video sessions. Being more clinical with their finishing is much less tangible and teachable. Other than Willian, the Blues’ forwards are not brimming with confidence these days. To some extent, rightly so. But they need to find their lethal edge, and the ability to recognize when to be selfish and shoot.
Next: Chelsea lack the game-changing subs who made the difference last season
Otherwise, Chelsea will continue to rely on Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta for their chance creation. Those two are valuable members of the offence, but when it comes to goal-scoring they should be the garnish, not the entree.