Chelsea: Centrebacks and midfielders stuck on loop playing out from back

West Ham did not have to do much to contain Chelsea in their own half. Chelsea’s midfielders formed too much of a closed loop with the centrebacks for the Blues to play much out from the back.

Say what you will about Maurizio Sarri’s eponymous hack job: it got the ball to Jorginho while he was facing forward. Since Chelsea have traded in those circuits for a different approach to training and playing (Jorginho himself says as much if you don’t want to believe me), the emphasis has shifted to the centrebacks linking up directly with the two deep-lying midfielders to bring play out from the back. However, this shifts the body position of the midfielders when they receive the ball. If they are receiving from the centrebacks or a full-back who has dropped deep to support, they are facing their own goal; whereas last season the midfielders would receive the ball from a more advanced full-back, so they would be facing upfield and could then play the next pass forward.

Jorginho’s primary response to being closed down from behind is to pass the ball in the direction he is facing. If he receives the ball from a centreback and senses pressure coming behind him, he will make a quick pass back to that centreback.

Jorginho is almost always square to the centreback making the pass. Because he rarely receives on the half-turn, he is not able to shelter the ball from the oncoming pressure and dodge around the opponent; nor does he have the angles for several passing options. And since he is not disposed to taking a turn around the defender and moving into space facing upfield, he returns the ball quickly to the back line.

Mateo Kovacic has the ability to turn out of tight spaces and advance upfield through a retreating defence: that’s exactly what he’s done many times this season to become so important to Chelsea’s play through midfield.

But when playing out from the back against a well-structured mid-block like West Ham’s, this is not always the best option as the defending team can easily collapse around him taking away his passing options. He should be able to pass to his midfield partner, who is presumably moving into space to receive the pass and continue the transition into attack. Jorginho, though, rarely makes those runs. If he comes towards the ball, he is bringing his defenders with him or is making his run into a non-open lane, pointing and shouting the whole way. Even if he is open, the opponent is close enough to close him down, which will cause him to send the ball back to the centrebacks.

Several times against West Ham, Mateo Kovacic would be facing fully upfield when the play out from the back started. This telegraphs the only route for the centrebacks to play through the midfield. Since Chelsea are so rarely going long over the top, Chelsea are effectively announcing the next pass: it’s going to one of two midfielders. One is facing upfield. Therefore, it’s going to the other one.

Chelsea’s attacking midfielders and forwards did not help their deep-lying counterparts. The attacking midfielders were far ahead of the deep midfielders, making it that much more difficult for the latter to connect play. Kovacic and Jorginho did not have close options coming off the turn under pressure, a situation where you would need a better passer than either of them to send the ball between the lines.

West Ham also recovered their defensive shape admirably quickly after every turnover, causing Chelsea to halt several nascent counter-attacks. With West Ham set up for defence and Chelsea’s ball-carrier hitting the brakes on the counter, the next move was always to pass the ball back and reset.

These tendencies allowed West Ham to contain Chelsea without really pressing.

Kurt Zouma led Chelsea in long balls with nine attempts, seven of which found their mark. These were the Blues’ best moves to get through West Ham’s midfield and force the Hammers to defend deeper in their own zone.

Zouma’s last long ball came in the 57′. Why the rather abrupt cessation two-thirds through the game? In the 61′, N’Golo Kante came on, along with Willian.

With Kante on the pitch Chelsea had a deep midfielder who can receive the ball at any body angle, quickly turn to evade pressure and shoot a quick forward pass to a teammate on the other side of the next line of opposition defenders.

In Willian, the Blues had an attacking midfielder / winger who drops deep, receives on the half-turn and can then dribble the ball into the final third. These two players broke the stasis that had developed between the centrebacks and the midfielders, allowing play to develop quickly through the centre of the pitch. This has the added benefit of bringing the full-backs more quickly into the play as they stayed further up the pitch.

Particularly with Olivier Giroud as the striker, Chelsea forfeited productive opportunities to play long balls over the top. Giroud is a classic striker for bring down a long pass and holding it up while his teammates come into the play. At his age, he is not very effective at dropping deep into the build-up and still taking part in the attack.

The Blues’ attempts to move the ball from the defence to the forwards were at odds with their striker. This was just one area where they tried to execute their Plan A tactics with several Plan B players. Chelsea are good at what they do when they have everyone they want.

But at this stage of the season they need to be at the same level no matter who is on the pitch, rather than trying to do the same things regardless of who is in the XI.