Frank Lampard opted to change things up again this season as he moved Chelsea into a 3-4-3. Is this a temporary fix or a long term adjustment?
Frank Lampard is a toolbox manager as opposed to a blueprint manager. Simply put, that means that he puts away different ideas and when he needs them, he will pull them out rather than stick to the blueprint dogmatically.
He showed it to a small degree in preseason as he went back and forth between the 4-2-3-1 and the 4-diamond-2. He showed it again during the season when he departed from the 4-2-3-1 he had settled on to use a 4-3-3. And now Lampard has reached into the toolbox again to put Chelsea into a 3-4-3 against Wolves.
But the question now is whether or not that was a temporary adjustment for Wolves or was it a longer term fix. With the squad dealing with multiple first team injuries and Wolves themselves playing a back three, it is hard to tell how permanent this 3-4-3 is before Valencia and Liverpool.
On paper, it makes plenty of sense as to why a back three would work with this squad given the issues before the break (though a 3-5-2 seemed like a more immediate solution). The Blues were getting wrecked by crosses and passes splitting the centerbacks. Jorginho provided little shielding to the defense as he left the centerbacks exposed. And all of these issues mirrored issues Antonio Conte had in his 4-3-3 before switching to the 3-4-3.
And the adjustment worked wonders, at least before the gas tank hit empty again (a recurring issue this season). Though the match started slowly and Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho seemed unsure around one another, things eventually settled down as things clicked. It is probably a leap to say Antonio Rudiger coming off was what caused the down turn but he did appear incredibly confident in the back and seemingly allowed Andreas Christensen and Fikayo Tomori confidence to move around at times.
But the team still conceded two goals (though they scored five because the youth are Chelsea’s best players now). Overall, the stats show Wolves were probably lucky to do that much damage but two goals conceded is still two goals conceded. The defensive issues were the main reason for the switch and they were only fixed in the expected stats but not the real ones.
The other main issue was in midfield as both Jorginho and Kovacic were unsure as to whether they should stay back or push forward. In those circumstances, one of Willian or Mason Mount should have dropped to help move the ball forward rather than one of the centermids vacating the midfield to add a forward option.
And even though the 3-4-3 more or less worked, there are several ways to wave it away as a one day decision. N’Golo Kante is out injured and Ross Barkley played both international matches (so did Jorginho but if nothing else, he has a large gas tank). Andreas Christensen could have theoretically moved into midfield but otherwise Lampard had two centermids that were ready to go and one that probably was not. Furthermore, Lampard could have been looking to match Wolves’ 3-5-2 with a 3-4-3 to help with overloads.
So it would not be very strange to see Lampard return to a 4-3-3 for Valencia and Liverpool while making the Wolves game about injuries and tactical decisions. Until the lineup comes out for those two matches and Kante returns to fitness, it will be hard to tell just how permanent the 3-4-3 is. It was a solution that mostly worked, but it remains to be seen whether it was a temporary fix or a long term solution.