The Blues continue their Champions League campaign as Rennes come to town. What key clashes should Chelsea be prepared for?
Fresh off lopsided back to back wins and three away matches, the Blue return to Stamford Bridge for the Champions League bout against Rennes. Edouard Mendy’s former club knows they are the outsiders when it comes to advancing in this group, but they will still like to give themselves a chance to advance. Chelsea will have to stop them as they look to solidify their hold on the group. What key clashes might determine this match’s outcome?
1. Eduardo Camavinga versus the world
Camavinga is arguably one of the most exciting up and coming new players in the game. His recent French debut at just 17 turned heads and rightfully so. The young midfielder mainly plays as a deeper playmaker for Rennes, but he loves to pop up everywhere that he might pose a danger. That makes him incredibly difficult to defend against as he could be picking out passes from the back at one moment and in the box the next.
Rennes already lost one key player in Mendy over the summer and it would be surprising to see them hold on to Camavinga for more than another season. Chelsea has a tendency to use Champions League matches to scout out players to sign later so the Blues scouting team may be in attendance.
On the field, everyone is going to have to be aware of the young midfield. Shut him down, and Rennes will be stunted in their attack. It will not just be a task for the Blues’ midfield, but for everyone bar maybe the forwards. The ideal situation is the Chelsea squad sees their scouts leave with an empty notepad as Camavinga looks for other matches to impress.
2. Chelsea’s newfound edges against another highly organized team
The Blues may be hard pressed to find a team that is as well drilled as Krasnodar was, but even still they cracked the Russia side open eventually. Rennes is also a highly organized side, though they have more flair and flow than their Russian counterparts. They made the Champions League on the back of being extremely stodgy in front of their own goal and that has continued in this campaign. Both Krasnodar and Sevilla struggled to find ways through the French side.
Rennes probably won’t be stepping out to press the Blues. If and when they lose possession, they will shell up and dare the Blues to break them down. Chelsea has had a lot of practice with that as of late with Manchester United, Krasnodar, and Burnley all sitting off to varying degrees.
Luckily for the Blues, they found ways through the last two thanks in part to the 4-3-3 with dual eights. Even a side that is daring the opponent to come on to them struggles when so many players are freely flowing about one another. Frank Lampard may need to rotate some to keep things fresh, but if the 4-3-3 remains it should cause plenty of difficulties for the French side.
3. Momentum versus the constant stop and start
Almost every time Frank Lampard has found a formation or tactic that works, it inevitably has fallen apart not long after. Everytime there has been a centerback pair that finally clicked, it was shortly followed up by that pair doing their best comedy duo act. Same goes for the pivot of the 4-2-3-1 regardless of who the two were. 3-4-3 seemingly worked for a while last season until it clearly didn’t anymore. This back and forth has made life difficult for Lampard because he can never trust one solution for too long.
Right now, the 4-3-3 with dual eights is “the way”. It worked extremely well last season either side of the Covid break with N’Golo Kante or Billy Gilmour flanked by Mason Mount and Ross Barkley. Now it is Kante flanked by Mount and Kai Havertz and it worked far too well against Burnley to stop using now.
But that has been true before. The Blues should stick with the shape but Lampard’s been burned by methods that seemingly work before. He will challenge his team to build momentum not just against Rennes and in results, but also in how they achieve those results. It has been a struggle before. Can it work now?
What key clashes are you looking for in this one? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!