Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea reached a new tactical level against City

Much was made about Chelsea and Manchester City revealing too much against each other before the Champions League final. Pep Guardiola even joked about it. And while they may have gotten some clues, both managers know each other’s ideas well enough that nothing should really come as a surprise to one another three weeks from now.

That being said, Chelsea did reveal something. Chelsea showed an entirely new tactical level against Manchester City. If the Blues are that far along, what does it mean for the future?

Thomas Tuchel didn’t reinvent the wheel when he came in midseason. He did as many midseason managers do without a lot of time to implement tactics; he focused on the basics and getting the defense right first. The next step was to get the chances flowing again and while that has taken some time, the Blues are short for chances anymore (finishing however, is a story for another time).

3-4-2-1 has been the primary vehicle for this, but more and more in recent games the side has been showing ideas more advanced than defending in a 5-4-1 or 5-2-3 and attacking through the wide triangles/diamonds. Before City, the primary introduction came in the form of a pendulum movement. The back five would act as one chain and the midfield three another. This allowed a ton of fluidity against the likes of Real Madrid and Fulham.

City was a little different in the sense that Chelsea’s shape on and off the ball changed constantly in response to City’s buildup. The 5-2-3 and 5-4-1 shapes were still around, but just as often Chelsea would defend in a 3-3-3-1 and 4-4-2. Even better was how little effort it required the Blues to make these switches and how they never seemed confused as a result.

Tuchel did something similar with Paris Saint-Germain. In the Champions League final, for example, the line that had the ball would always be a four in possession. Defensively, there would always be a line of four ahead of Bayern Munich on the ball. So the formation would quickly shift from 4-3-3 to 3-4-3 and into 3-3-4 and back again to create the numbers they needed.

Much of these formation shifts come from those pendulum motions mentioned earlier. If Reece James stays high, the back three slides over, and Marcos Alonso drops back, the formation becomes a 4-4-2. Billy Gilmour would often move forward to help man mark with the front three, causing the wingbacks to tuck in to support N’Golo Kante.

It was fluid and fantastic and it mostly stalled Manchester City out. Almost every attacking patterned they tried ran into immediate traffic that forced them back or long. Their goal came only as the result of a pretty simple mistake by Andreas Christensen. They weren’t able to create anything else from the match.

This level of fluidity shouldn’t really be expected from a manager who has maybe at most had three training days in a row at any given time this season. This is the level of fluidity expected after a full preseason and maybe another half season’s worth of matches on top of that. Tuchel’s already shown in, and with a heavily rotated side no less.

There is still a lot to play for this season before it can be called a success. That being said, the signs point towards something special from Chelsea next season if they continue to grow this quickly.