Chelsea: Marcos Alonso, Mateo Kovacic add the twist to a 4-1-4-1

Maurizio Sarri warned us over the summer not to get too hung up deciphering his formations at Chelsea. But of course we’re going to anyway.

Add to the list of Marcos Alonso’s achievements at Chelsea breaking Maurizio Sarri out of his 4-3-3 fixity. Give Mateo Kovacic a slice of the credit, too. The pair’s interchanging coverage of the left side turns the on-paper 4-3-3 into a 4-1-4-1 / 4-2-3-1 as Chelsea build the attack into the opponent’s half. Like we said, we’re ignoring Sarri’s advice.

Chelsea’s base formation has become a 4-1-4-1 in recent games, particularly since they have faced minimally offensive teams. Jorginho plays his usual role as deep-lying playmaker in front of the centre-backs. N’Golo Kante’s box-to-box responsibilities keep him staying near the opponent’s box, since the likes of Newcastle and Cardiff spend so little time near Chelsea’s. And the third midfielder is, by design, the most forward of the three. This leaves Jorginho between the two lines of four, with Kante and Kovacic in line with the wingers and the striker up top.

As Chelsea bring the play across the midfield line Marcos Alonso starts his move in and up. Kovacic will slide deeper and to the outside to cover the space Alonso is vacating on the left touchline. He does not play as wide as Alonso would, but he takes up enough space in the standard left-back area to prevent a counter-attack down that side.

Alonso then moves into the space Kovacic creates by moving out of the attacking midfield line. Alonso’s movement is a staggered diagonal, as he occupies the half-space between the midfield line and the final third, and then into the box for the late stages of the attack.

Aside from playing to Alonso’s offensive strengths, this provides Eden Hazard with two sources of support on the left. Hazard and Kovacic linked up well in their early game together when Kovacic played more centrally. With Hazard rediscovering how much more he can do when he comes in from a wide left position, Kovacic is in a similar position as Alonso was in Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 to support Hazard vertically along the touchline.

Alonso, then, has the option to make overlapping or “underlapping” runs off of Hazard. The overlap puts Alonso in position for an aerial cross towards the centre-forward, which is a less-favoured tactic in Sarrismo.

The underlapping runs are more frequent now, as Maurizio Sarri wants the ball to stay on the ground as much as possible. The underlap allows Hazard and Alonso to play a one-two moving diagonally into the box. From there, either of them can bring the other winger or the centre-forward into the play. And if Hazard takes the ball centrally himself, Alonso can slide outside of the box to recover any balls or cover any opponents moving out towards the touchline.

When Chelsea turn over possession, Kovacic stays back while Alonso retreats into his canonical position as left back. The two swap, with Kovacic then driving forward to join the press as a midfielder. In these transitions, Chelsea play through a 4-2-3-1, as Kovacic or Kante drop alongside Jorginho depending on which side the play is developing. This gives the Blues sufficient time to then reform in their defensive shape.

Maurizio Sarri likes a certain amount of asymmetry between his full-backs. In the early stages of the season, Alonso was the attacking left-back and Cesar Azpilicueta was the conservative, defensive right-back. More recently Azpilicueta has become more of a traditional two-way full-back (think Ashley Cole) while Alonso is in a complete hybrid role between full-back, wing-back and shadow striker.

Trying to attach positional titles the players is almost as much of a fool’s errand as trying to pin down Maurizio Sarri’s formations. Fortunately, the players seem to be listening to him more than we are.

As with so much else, Chelsea have yet to face a serious test of their tactics this season. The game against Cardiff was a real milestone, though, as the Bluebirds came out enough for Chelsea to show how fluidly they can play against a team not playing a tight low block. Cardiff bridged the gap between those videos everyone gushed over this summer showing Chelsea practicing passing plays with no opponents and the very real opponents they will be facing very soon from the top of the table.

Predictability is a fatal characteristic in modern coaching. No matter how effective or innovative one’s methods are, they will not be for long (cough cough, Mourinho). Maurizio Sarri is on the right track by building on what he did at Napoli without trying to replicate it.

Marcos Alonso could be his secret weapon of versatility as he was for Antonio Conte. Alonso’s ability to adapt and bring out new talents from himself and those around him keep Chelsea’s left side the more interesting one to watch, no matter what you call the formation.