Chelsea notched their biggest margin of victory since November 29 when they defeated Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 on Sunday. Despite the quality gap between the teams, the match played out much like every other Chelsea game.
Second-tier English defending and Chelsea’s limited Sarrismo are like a perfectly-matched acid-base pair: combine them and you get harmless neutrality. Harmless neutrality is a desirable outcome for a second-tier opponent, whereas for Chelsea it is another 90 minutes of suffering with the ball, even if the scoresheet says 3-0.
Sheffield Wednesday had very little to gain from venturing out of their zone. They had a few offensive chances in the first 10 minutes, but the longer they stayed in Chelsea’s half the greater the danger. They knew Chelsea are much more dangerous on the counter-attack than in possession because of the space a counter-attack offers them. As long as Sheffield Wednesday could re-form their low block before Chelsea could put a ball behind their defence, they could easily keep the Blues some distance from the goal. Once in their defensive shape, as long as they did not allow space to appear, they knew Chelsea would not make their way through.
The Owls also took advantage of the predictability of Chelsea’s passing circuits. They made 19 interceptions, and many times they looked as though they knew where the ball was going before the Chelsea player did. Wednesday’s players would only need to take a step or two into the passing lane and the ball would be at their feet.
The Blues have yet to use Maurizio Sarri’s system successfully to draw their opponents out of a low block to attack spaces behind. Teams quickly fall back into their block, using their press only to slow Chelsea’s build-out enough for their defence to take their shape, not to make any real attempt to retake possession. The Blues then advance casually and sometimes quickly through the first two-thirds, and enter into their stereotypical passing patterns atop the final third.
Even when the Blues start playing the ball back towards a deep midfielder or the defenders they are not able to create the space necessary for forward vertical play. The lure-and-attack scheme was a major component of Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli side and the attraction of their style of play.
Part of Chelsea’s struggles to replicate it may be because English clubs are stereotypically rugged and determined in their defence. Whereas Napoli’s bottom-half or lower-tier opponents may have gotten antsy, anxious or ambitious, Chelsea are continually up against teams who resolutely resist the bait. The other part lies with Chelsea. For starters, their bait is not particularly enticing and the real reward for the opposition comes in maintaining their block.
If Chelsea are not able to draw their opponents out to create space, their next best offensive option is to pull the opponent side-to-side to create creases for the forwards to run into. That kind of quick and purposeful passing has eluded Chelsea all season, in large part because Jorginho’s passes are predictably short, at a metronomically regular tempo and telegraphed by his body position. Neither his timing, positioning nor usual repertoire of passes support the switches of plays necessary to distort a defence and open a pocket.
However, Chelsea’s Jorginho-less midfield against Sheffield Wednesday did little better. Marcos Alonso and Willian spent much of the game in the middle of the pitch. They overloaded the centre, which seemed to overload Ethan Ampadu’s and Ross Barkley‘s sense of positioning. They frequently ran into each other and rarely were in the right position to receive or make a useful pass.
In earlier games, Chelsea’s ability to break down the blocks suffered from not having a striker who could make runs along and then behind the defensive line. Gonzalo Higuain‘s runs against Sheffield Wednesday were an encouraging sight. The club may now have a striker who can get in alone on the goalkeeper within 15 yards of the net. However, his productivity there is contingent on receiving service, a team weakness throughout their years-long merry-go-round of strikers.
Chelsea’s best goals in recent games – David Luiz to Pedro against Newcastle, Andreas Christensen to Callum Hudson-Odoi against Sheffield Wednesday – have come when the Blues could use a long pass against a stretched defence to send a forward in 1v1. Those goals and other chances like them have come when there has been some sort of reset in play, such as a throw-in, free kick or counter-attack.
The way the Blues are playing now, they are dependent on such externalities for their best scoring chances. They are still trying to find ways to create those opportunities through their own doing.
The elephant in the room is Chelsea’s possession. They had 79% possession against Sheffield Wednesday, in line with several other mind-numbing wins this season.
The dirty secret of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte is that playing defensively and out-of-possession enabled Chelsea’s attack. They maximized the open green space in front of the Blues, which gave the fast and creative forwards a chance to work their unpredictable magic. Eden Hazard can be isolated 1v1 against fullbacks. Pedro can go on a mazey run that leads to him driving the ball into the centre of the box. Callum Hudson-Odoi can bring down a pass and dribble at a defender or take a touch around him for a clean shot. Cesc Fabregas, David Luiz or Antonio Rudiger can send any of those players in on goal with a long arcing pass.
Maurizio Sarri’s most difficult opponents may not be the Premier League’s top-six, but the bottom-half and lower-tier teams in the cups.
Until Chelsea can find a way around and through these English double-decker buses, their route to victory will continue to be overwhelming their opponents with quality, which is much more boring than it sounds.