Chelsea needed a Frank Lampard reminder on the joy of counter-attacking

Chelsea needed about 54 minutes and a talk from Frank Lampard to launch a proper counter-attack against Newcastle on Saturday. Such an ingrained tool should never be far from their reach.

Teams cannot win trophies and titles without being able to smash and grab a 1-0 win against a classically disciplined Premier League low block. Chelsea mastered the beautiful art of the ugly, functional win under Jose Mourinho in the mid-2000s and, like so much else of the Special One’s first reign, it became part of the club’s culture regardless of managers and rosters. Because he was a part of Mourinho’s first round of successes at Stamford Bridge, Frank Lampard knows just how important it is for his young team to grow into this part of the club’s identity.

Steve Bruce’s Newcastle were the perfect opponent for such a game. The Magpies defended in a 4-5-1 with the intelligent discipline that can only come from a meticulous manager like Bruce (or, when it comes to defending like that, Rafael Benitez, Jose Mourinho or Antonio Conte).

Newcastle did not linger up the pitch upon turning over the ball in Chelsea’s zone. Once they lost possession they immediately retreated and re-formed their compact shape so they were in position and fully responsive to however Chelsea approached the final third. They then moved brilliantly to cover all of Chelsea’s dribbles and passes, until the Blues finally created just enough space via Christian Pulisic on the right and Marcos Alonso on the left.

Newcastle did not give Chelsea much to work with, but the Blues did not seek to exploit what little was there. Chelsea did not defend with as many men behind the ball as Newcastle in the first half. They usually had Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and either Callum Hudson-Odoi or Ross Barkley in position to attack behind Newcastle’s lines if an out-ball came over the top from the Blues’ defenders. But that ball never came.

When Chelsea regained possession, they played out from the back deliberately and slowly. Kepa Arrizabalaga did not run the ball to the top of his box before throwing it out to a full-back running at full tilt, nor punt it over the lines for Abraham, Mount or a winger to run onto.

Kurt Zouma and Fikayo Tomori are both decent long-ball passers, Tomori in particular. Against Newcastle they would not even need much accuracy. As long as the ball landed over midfield, Hudson-Odoi or Abraham would get there before any more than two Newcastle defenders were in place, which would leave the Chelsea attackers space to run at the backpedalling Magpies. But they did not have any opportunity to run onto the ball, at defenders and into the open space.

Because Chelsea did not go for a single-pass counter-attack nor build out with the urgency needed to slip in behind Newcastle’s rapidly re-forming lines, they ended up playing Steve Bruce’s game. They managed to avoid the U-shaped trap of pointless possession, but they ceded to Newcastle the terms of confrontation.

Lampard recognized that his team was leaving offensive opportunities on the table and letting Newcastle assume their strongest position before facing a Chelsea attack.

"[I]n the first half, albeit we created a couple of chances, we were a bit safe, a bit slow. We did move the ball from side to side but not with enough risk to sometimes take people out of the game and that was the message at half-time. – Chelsea FC"

Within 10 minutes of Lampard’s half-time talk the Blues executed his instructions. Mateo Kovacic and Willian drove up the middle of the pitch after Chelsea regained possession. This was the first time in the game Newcastle had to defend while retreating, doing their best to buy time for the rest of their squad to take shape and not letting a through-ball penetrate their partial lines.

That burst of speed set the tone for the rest of the half. Even when Chelsea started their attack from within Newcastle’s zone, Willian and Kovacic set the tempo with faster, direct sequences of passes and dribbles. The increased pace of play started opening seams in the Newcastle lines, which Christian Pulisic targeted when he came on for Mason Mount. Then in the final stages of the game, as Newcastle moved up in search of an equalizer, Chelsea attacked the space and openness of the Magpies’ defence.

Frank Lampard is not setting Chelsea up as an out-of-possession counter-attacking team like many of those he was a part of. He is emphasizing possession and purposeful, creative build-up play, which are both somewhat discontinuous with the aberration of last season and the 15 years preceding.

Chelsea found a way to win against Newcastle. The way they won showed that this team is much further along than many would have expected.

As they recognize how many strengths and options they have in them, they will find they have to grind out fewer wins in the final 20 minutes, even as the have the confidence to know they can when they need to.