Chelsea’s host Rennes at Stamford Bridge in the third game of the Champions League. What tactics does the French side employ?
Chelsea loves a newcomer in the Champions League this season. Fresh off a win against first timers Krasnodar, the Blues will be hosting newcomers Rennes at Stamford Bridge. Rennes has been slowly building over recent seasons and thanks in part to Chelsea’s own Edouard Mendy, they reached their first Champions League.
Mendy may be Blue now, but Rennes has not had a bad start to the season without him. They currently sit third in Ligue 1 after nine games played. In the Champions League, they sit joint bottom (or second, depending on one’s point of view) after drawing Krasnodar on opening day and narrowly falling to Sevilla by one goal.
The French side has proven to another incredibly organized and stodgy team in a run of organized and stodgy teams for the Blues. What will they look like tactically beyond that and what might the Blues need to do in response?
While the Blues will struggle to find many teams as straight from the paper as Krasnodar is, Rennes will be a tight and well drilled unit. No matter how high their line is, they rarely overextend themselves in a press. Instead, the closer player or two may start to put on pressure as everyone else falls into the block.
When they do win the ball back, it is not unusual for players to end up “out of position” on the counter as they fill cracks like water. That has seen Eduardo Camavinga burst out of the center and end up pretty much everywhere, but his injury may cause Rennes to be even more packed in than normal.
One thing the Blues will find ideal is that Rennes defensive block is far from all encompassing. It defends the center well, but it has a tendency to get stretched. Sevilla created chance after chance through their wide players pulling Rennes out and finding a player rushing into the space created. If Timo Werner (or Tammy Abraham) stays somewhat central, they should find plenty of chances off whoever is wide and sending balls in.
It is probably also worth keeping in mind that the way Rennes has played in the Champions League is not the same as they have played in France. Generally, Rennes likes to enjoy more possession of the ball and build forward through combinations not unlike Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea. Manager Julien Stephan, however, has opted to rein some of that in for the Champions League. It might have worked had they gotten a result against Sevilla, but their loss in Spain might cause them to open back up as they look to close the margins in the group.
That being said, Rennes knows they were favorites for third even if second still remains a possibility. Being defensively sound has worked out for them thus far and it may not be ideal for them to open up on matchday three. Of course, going at Chelsea may cause the Blues more issues that sitting off as it would be what the team would not expect.
Rennes is a solid and flexible side that will aim to make like difficult for Chelsea. Handling momentum has proven difficult historically for the Blues, but they have done so well in recent outings. Carry that over again and Chelsea should see themselves top of the group come the halfway point.