Chelsea sometimes got tunnel vision for Eden Hazard knowing he could win a game. That problem has simply shifted to Tammy Abraham over time.
For years as Chelsea chased matches, almost every player on the pitch would immediately look for Eden Hazard. Occasionally opponents would read this tunnel vision and focus all their efforts on the Belgian. Regardless, Chelsea players would do everything they could to get him the ball because he, and seemingly only he, could do something magical with it.
With Hazard gone, there has been a lot of talk about how Chelsea will replace his production. There has also been a lot of talk about how several players have stepped up to recreate Hazard’s numbers by committee. While that has been true over the entire season, at the moment it is not. Chelsea has simply replaced the Hazard problem with the Tammy Abraham problem.
This is not a tactical issue first of all. It is a personnel issue and when things get hard and the score stays 0-0 or worse longer, the players naturally begin to turn to the player with the best chance of doing something. Right now it is Abraham.
Since returning from break, almost the totality of Chelsea’s goals and shots on target have come from inside the box and from the center. The implication is that as the score is unfavorable to Chelsea, the side simply attempts to get the ball into Abraham in the center. He is practically the only goal scorer right now, two Mateo Kovacic daisy cutters aside.
It should come as no surprise that Chelsea’s best run of form came when someone was picking up the slack with Abraham. At first it was Mason Mount from the wing. Between Leicester City and Southampton, Mount scored four of his five goals this season. When Willian returned from injury he picked up the slack. His three goals came between Brighton and Burnley about a month apart. Christian Pulisic had the longest sustained run once he found himself back in the side. The American scored a hat trick against Burnley and continued to score up through Crystal Palace with one more coming later against Valencia.
What happened next? Well Chelsea returned from break and lost to Manchester City. And West Ham. And Everton. And Bournemouth with Valencia, Lille, and Aston Villa thrown in between. The goals have come from several players during this time but they have virtually all come centrally implying Abraham was the target.
Going over shot maps, it appears there are two main things missing currently that were present before. The first is shots from outside the box. Those shots have virtually disappeared except for set pieces. In a way, that is understandable given the sides Chelsea has played against. But the complete lack of shots from the wide areas of the box is the most telling sign that Abraham has become the new tunnel vision target.
Where Mount (as a winger), Willian, and Pulisic once picked up the slack was by taking on shots themselves from what fans of Pep Guardiola would call “the half space”. Those shots simply are not present anymore. They are almost all going straight to Abraham who is usually crowded out. In a way, a fear of shots from this area was something Hazard himself also suffered from despite himself being the tunnel vision target.
This all goes back to Frank Lampard’s comments after the match about not taking risks. Chelsea has gone shot shy like last season. They are trying to either walk it into the net or have Abraham tap it in. But the success earlier in the season and even for Lampard last season did not come from that. It came from shots out the box. It came from wingers being unafraid to shoot at tight angles. It came from trying more than just playing the striker on.
Abraham is facing a similar issue as Hazard; he is almost too trusted to do something amazing. Lampard’s side needs to trust themselves and their own ability more like they did earlier this season. If not, the make weight fans long demanded for Hazard may be found for Abraham to split the narrow focus over several players once again.