The 3-5-2 is a formation that can work fantastically if the team has the players and attitude to perform. Chelsea have the former, but not the latter.
The 3-5-2 is a formation that is making a comeback around the world. Few managers are so strongly associated with it as Antonio Conte. After switching to it, his Juventus side went on to crush all in its way in Italy. It used a similar formation with the Italian national team. And it was assumed he would bring it to Chelsea as well.
That did not happen right away. He started with a familiar back four before famously switching to the 3-4-3. This season, he has experimented with the 3-5-2 twice. The first time ended as Chelsea started to struggle in the winter. But he has recently brought it back.
When all the players are right and have the right attitude, the formation is amazing. It creates overloads virtually everywhere in any phase. But if the players are not right for it or have the wrong attitude, the formation collapses in on itself and invites wave after wave of pressure.
During the first use of the 3-5-2 at Conte’s Chelsea, it appeared that the issue was the players. But this second time has shown that the players can perform their roles in the formation well. The biggest thing missing for Chelsea is the attitude to perform in the system for a full 90.
The first half hour or so showed the 3-5-2 as it should be. The key is having the players pressing at the right moments. The goal is to push the ball into the wide areas by bogging down the middle with center mids and center backs. Once wide, the near striker, near center midfielder, and near wingback would all press the ball aggressively. This cut off passing lanes and forced risky passes to maintain possession. N’Golo Kante and the near center back sat behind to sweep up any loose balls that made it through.
The center mid and striker being pushed up allowed them to quickly start a counter attack once the ball was won. This required a great deal of energy and movement from both the striker and center mid as they had more ground to cover offensively and defensively.
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Cesar Azpilicueta was also key. When Chelsea had the ball, Azpilicueta would join the midfield line. This gave Chelsea a 2-3-5 or 2-4-4 shape on attack. If the ball was lost, Kante would fill in for Azpilicueta until the Spaniard could get back into position.
So the 3-5-2 worked when, at minimum, eight of the ten outfield players put in immense effort. If Conte’s training regime is as difficult as rumored, then the Blues should have had no trouble maintaining that intensity.
But around the half hour mark, Chelsea started to drop off. Once the center mid and striker started to press less aggressively, pressure was put onto the wing back. With only one wide player per side, any amount of pressure immediately caused them to fall back. That merely gave Swansea the lane they needed to start attacking.
And once the 3-5-2 collapses into a 5-3-2 or 5-4-1 like that, it is incredibly difficult to pull back out of it. That was one of the great issues with it before and it remains so. The aggressive pressing seen at the start allowed Chelsea to avoid collapsing but as soon as that stopped the Blues fell in on themselves.
So Chelsea have all the tools needed to play the 3-5-2 appropriately. Eden Hazard, Alvaro Morata, and Olivier Giroud can all press aggressively if need be. Cesc Fabregas, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Pedro, and Willian can all come in and out of the midfield to push the opponent. But as soon as any of them let up, even a little, it falls apart. They lack the attitude to do what is necessary for the full 90 minutes it seems.
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Whether this is merely the players feeling pressured and dropping off or instruction by Conte remains to be seen. So far, a similar drop off has been seen in all the recent matches in which the 3-5-2 was used. It has yet to be exploited but it will only take a big, aggressive team like Liverpool to really test it. Conte must get his players into the right mindset to do what is needed all match if they are to use the 3-5-2 successfully against Liverpool.