Talking tactics: Chelsea hosts Brendan Rodgers’ characteristic Leicester

Chelsea hosts former academy manager Brendan Rodgers and his very young Leicester side. What can Frank Lampard and company expect?

The transformation of Leicester City following their title win has been incredibly interesting to watch. They have gone from an older, defensively minded team to a team full of some of the Premier League’s best young talent attempting to play in a progressive way.

Claude Puel played a major role in that shift but as often happens with his clubs he was sacked for being “boring” and not achieving the perceived expected results. Leicester then poached Brendan Rodgers from Celtic on the basis of his youth development and style there. Now Rodgers is poised to reap the field that Puel sowed.

Leicester is very much in the pack right outside the top six. There squad is old enough and experienced enough in the Premier League to know what they are doing but young enough to still have the occasional hiccup. As Frank Lampard manages Chelsea for the first time at Stamford Bridge, it is that middle ground he will be looking to exploit.

Rodger’s is a 4-3-3 man at heart. He will occasionally use something else and continue using it if it is working, but he almost always comes back to the 4-3-3 for the fluidity he asks for. Possession is the name of the game as much as disruption is.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, Lampard does have much in common with Rodgers tactically. The main link is the lack of taboo for long balls. A long ball is simply a means to disrupt the opponent. Once disrupted, the side can then look to exploit the chaos quickly in opening spaces.

That suits Jamie Vardy just as much as it would suit Olivier Giroud or Tammy Abraham. But while Giroud or Abraham will often look to lay it off to rushing wingers, Vardy will look to break through on goal first.

But Rodgers is more pragmatic overall than Lampard has shown himself to be. Whereas Lampard will constantly want through balls and long balls into the attack, Rodgers is not afraid to have his team be more patient in possession as they wait for an opportunity. They also do not focus nearly as much on pressing aggressively to get the ball back, instead prefer to tuck in and soak up pressure first.

It perhaps should not be surprising that Lampard and Rodgers share much tactically as they both spent many formative years at the club under Jose Mourinho. Both have taken many lessons from the man that now show up in their team but neither is as dogmatic about their own way as Mourinho was or is.

That being said, if either manager were to mix it up, it would be Lampard. Rodgers only bends when things are not going perfectly whereas Lampard will constantly look for a solution to a problem. It is hard to say exactly what will win or lose this match but the tricks in Lampard’s sleeve could prove pivotal.