Chelsea: Examining Thomas Tuchel’s biggest mistake, the 3-5-2

Thomas Tuchel took over Chelsea in January and ever since it has appeared as if he could do no wrong. Yet, this season—despite Chelsea sitting atop the Premier League table—Tuchel has been wrong a whole lot more than the results suggest. Regardless of the lead for this piece, this is not going to be a few hundred words slamming Tuchel. In fact, “wrong” is probably too harsh on the gaffer since it’s hard to fault the German for taking over the team and leading it to an improbable Champions League triumph.

While the goals haven’t flowed as freely under Tuchel, he has tightened up the team and reintroduced the classic Chelsea defensive steel that is synonymous with its title winning teams. It is also hard to fault a manager who has guided his team to the top of the Premier League table by late October. The Blues have only lost twice since May 24th in all competitions, with those two coming at the hands of Manchester City and Juventus. On that record, it makes no sense to say that Tuchel has been wrong a whole lot more than the results suggest. However, there is reasoning for this and it rests in his desperation to implement a new formation in the biggest games so far this season.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel’s biggest mistake this season is a tactical one

Chelsea has won all but three games this season. Some results are due to overall superior quality, while others are down to a piece of individual brilliance. In the games where the Blues have been below par, much of that comes down to the way they are set up. Chelsea’s opening league fixture against Palace saw the Blues deploy a 3-4-2-1 (or 3-4-3, depending on your preference). The game ended in a 3-0 triumph. This formation allows them to be at their best and utilizes the most out of their skillful players.

Tuchel followed up the Palace game with the 3-4-2-1 against Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Zenit in the Champions League. While the Liverpool game is a wrinkle due to the Reece James red card, in all four of those games Chelsea looked like the team that won the Champions League. Where the Blues have come undone is when Tuchel has deployed them in a 3-5-2. Now, of course every team needs to have a number of different formations to allow them a certain flexibility. However, try as he might, the 3-5-2 has not worked for Tuchel and it has not worked for Chelsea.

Before highlighting how the 3-5-2 has failed to propel the Blues to greater heights, it’s worth noting why the 3-5-2 is so enticing to Tuchel. The chief reason is Timo Werner. The German was at his goalscoring best when he played off a strong hold-up player in the Bundesliga. For RB Leipzig, that strike partner was Yussuf Poulsen.

Poulsen is a shade under 6’3” with good movement, the ability to hold up the ball, nod it on and play smart balls beyond defenders. This worked perfectly for Werner, who used his speed in a league that loves a high defensive line. Leipzig at its best always played on the counter-attack, allowing its opponents time on the ball so the defenders and midfielders could knock it to Poulsen or Werner. Leipzig could also use Poulsen as a distraction to draw defenders away from Werner. Bringing that idea to Chelsea—and the prospect of getting Werner back into his scoring boots—is tantalizing. Nevertheless, the Blues don’t have Poulsen, they have Romelu Lukaku, one of the best strikers and hold-up players in world football. A strike duo that, if clicking, would frighten even the most assured defences.

Continuing with the Werner focus, Chelsea is unlike RB Leipzig because the Blues dominate possession and territory. Against Chelsea, teams are forced back and drop deep. Two attackers against four or five defenders is easy pickings. Secondly, it isn’t getting the best out of the Blues’ No.1 striker in Lukaku. The difference between Lukaku operating in the 3-4-2-1 and the 3-5-2 is so noticeable that former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte posed the question whether Chelsea knows how to use Lukaku to his strengths. Conte raised the issue after the Blues’ abysmal showing against Juventus for Sky Italia. Ironically enough, the Blues had actually lined up in a 3-4-2-1, but ended up playing more of a 3-5-2 with Hakim Ziyech dropping deep to collect the ball and Kai Havertz moving up to join Lukaku, who was totally smothered.

Chelsea was inexplicably bad that day. But if you watch the game tape from that match or the only other game the Blues have lost—a 1-0 against Man City, where they played a 3-5-2—you will see how stifled the Belgian is. Of course, you’ll get this on occasion against the best teams. No one expected Chelsea to dominate the ball against City, and even when it did against Juventus, the formation meant Lukaku had little room to play off the defenders.

Furthermore, in the 3-5-2, Lukaku cannot drop deep and run at defenders as he did so well when playing for Belgium at Euro 2020. When he drops deep, he is either followed by a defender who needs not be wary of two other potential attackers (as they would in the 3-4-2-1) or he clogs a midfield already swamped with Chelsea players. In Turin, he was marshaled expertly by Leonardo Bonucci and Matthijs de Ligt, but it isn’t just Lukaku that suffers in the 3-5-2.

Part of what makes the Blues so hard to play against is the combination of passers and runners beyond the opposition’s back line. In the double pivot, the 3-4-2-1 provides two roles: the passer and a capable runner. It causes defences to think about stepping up to stop the Mateo Kovacic run and being exposed by a Jorginho pass or vice versa. The 3-5-2 renders that impossible because it asks Jorginho, or Ruben Loftus-Cheek, to be the deep lying passer and the other midfielders become runners. The defence reads what’s going to happen because Jorginho or Loftus-Cheek is that much deeper, they cannot run with the ball at the risk of losing it and exposing three defenders to a counter. Everyone is easier to track.

Forget for a second the 3-5-2 takes away a spot for Chelsea’s attacking players of which Havertz, Ziyech, Werner, Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ross Barkley and the returning Christian Pulisic all have a claim over. If there still needs some convincing that the 3-5-2 hasn’t worked for the Blues, take a look at their results.

All of Lukaku’s goals have come when Chelsea has played a 3-4-2-1. The Blues have scored three or more goals in a game five times this season—all of which have come when lined up in the aforementioned shape. The Blues squeaked by Brentford, thanks only to a world class showing by Edouard Mendy, while playing a 3-5-2. The prospects of a Lukaku-Werner strike partnership in a 3-5-2 are exciting, but nowhere near as exciting as dominant Chelsea wins like the ones against Arsenal, Tottenham, Crystal Palace or Malmo.

Tuchel hasn’t got a lot wrong but his persistence with the 3-5-2 is one in the negative column. The Blues need formational flexibility, but for now the 3-5-2 needs to stay on the training pitches at Cobham if Chelsea wants to stay top of the league.