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Tactics and Transfers: Same old, new Chelsea and some stars

By Barrett Rouen

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 02: Callum Hudson-Odoi celebrates with Timo Werner of Chelsea a goal that is later disallowed during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Southampton at Stamford Bridge on October 02, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 02: Callum Hudson-Odoi celebrates with Timo Werner of Chelsea a goal that is later disallowed during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Southampton at Stamford Bridge on October 02, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 02: Timo Werner of Chelsea FC celebrates scoring a goal which is later disallowed by VAR during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Southampton at Stamford Bridge on October 02, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Chloe Knott – Danehouse/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 02: Timo Werner of Chelsea FC celebrates scoring a goal which is later disallowed by VAR during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Southampton at Stamford Bridge on October 02, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Chloe Knott – Danehouse/Getty Images) /

Chelsea put in the sort of performance that fans should be used to as they’re fairly repetitive, despite the manager in charge when they happen. The Blues should be embarrassed to have had more weapons on their bench than Southampton had on the field and still made such hard work of the Saints. That’s no disrespect to Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side either—I simply would never do that. A: Southampton is, aside from Newcastle, the side in the Premier League I have the most affection toward. B: Chelsea has a squad whose value is greater than the GDP of St. Kitts and Nevis and can’t quite seem to get itself going for a home match in a year it’s title contenders.

That’s really the big issue.

The Blues have—for as long as I have known them—struggled with smaller sides who they should be beating with ruthless efficiency. They have then saved themselves for larger matches, knowing full well that they’ve made them harder by not taking advantage of opportunities earlier in the season.

In the end, Chelsea did what it needed to and beat Southampton. For several periods during this match, the home squad actually looked like a fantastic and flowing football side. The Blues have finally figured out that having a forward as athletic, strong and clinical in his finishing as Romelu Lukaku means that you should play some through balls from defense and the middle third of the pitch. Then, simply let whichever defender is forced to chase him decide whose will is worth more. That’s the point of Lukaku. That’s the royal benefit of having such a Rolls-Royce of a player. He gives Chelsea a great chance in that type of situation.

Why wouldn’t Thomas Tuchel make the most of it? Antonio Conte was right and everybody knows it. The Blues are not making the most of their £97.5 million forward. They have struggled with that for the first several matches of the season and instead insisted on this static, supposedly tactically superior, style of play for several matches. Thankfully, former Chelsea manager Conte was able to cast a glance over things and suggest that somehow the Blues were doing things wrong before they made that change. It embarrassed Chelsea into fixing such a glaring problem.

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