Antonio Conte has been in the news a lot recently as he was officially appointed Tottenham manager early on Tuesday. This means the word ‘suffer’ has suddenly found its way into the vocabularies of English football fans—for one reason or another. The Italian’s reign at Chelsea featured a lot of suffering without the ball, the 1-0 defeat against Manchester City being the most notable example. Nevertheless, it’s a new era at Stamford Bridge and Thomas Tuchel has brought sustained success with him. The Blues suffered against Malmo on Tuesday as they grinded out a 1-0 win in the Champions League, displaying the progression of play under the new gaffer.
The victory takes Chelsea temporarily level on points with first place Juventus in Group H. The Blues outplayed their Swedish opponents from the opening whistle and despite an endless barrage of shots, only returned home with one goal to their name. Three points are three points though, they count all the same for Chelsea.
Here are three lessons we learnt in the Blues’ UCL victory:
1. Thomas Tuchel’s team gets results
It isn’t always pretty, especially in a competition as difficult as the Champions League. Chelsea has a plethora of important players missing right now, so while the fixture list may look relatively easy at the moment, playing every other three days without a few stars can be difficult. The notable absences include Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante, Romelu Lukaku, Mason Mount and Timo Werner. Therefore, it’s not difficult to see why the attack is suffering in some contests. Malmo presented a far more formidable challenge at home than it did in SW6 due to the defensive organization and discipline it showed.
In the days of old, these are the games Chelsea often goes on to lose. Conte, Maurizio Sarri and Frank Lampard all had issues breaking down low blocks from significantly weaker opposition. They would then be left open to the counter when throwing the kitchen sink at the opponent and the Blues would often lose inexplicably. We all know those matches. However, Tuchel doesn’t ever let things reach that breaking point. Tuchel’s organized shape, ruthless press and trust in his system allow his sides to get results from even the toughest matches. Chelsea was able to leave the Eleda Stadion with all three points on Tuesday because of the way Tuchel approached the contest. He didn’t underestimate his foes, he didn’t allow the Blues to let up and he didn’t abandon his gameplan. The German is getting results for his team and it’s often times these ugly wins that determine whether or not the squad will lift silverware come the end of the season.
2. Chelsea needs a striker sooner than later
The aforementioned absences of Lukaku and Werner have undoubtedly taken their toll of the team during this run of games. While the Blues haven’t suffered in terms of statistics (most notably wins and goals scored), they haven’t taken as many of their chances as they possibly should. This is displayed recently by Chelsea’s xG of 3 against Malmo, a game in which the west London side only rattled the back of the net once via Hakim Ziyech. Kai Havertz—who played up top as the lone No. 9 on the night—was involved in the build-up, yet, fans need to see more from the German. It’s worth noting a false nine is not exactly his best position. He was struggling to find his footing even before moving up top, so the forced positional change hasn’t exactly helped.
Havertz’s last goal came in the reverse fixture against Malmo, a 4-0 victory for the Blues. The contest in question was played two weeks ago, so the wunderkind isn’t exactly in a scoring drought, but he’s not finding the back of the net as much as he should be. Havertz has just two goals this season out of a combined xG of 2.3 throughout all competitions. The problems are not glaring per se, he has just had chance after chance to put the ball into the back of the net and failed for one reason or another. A quick glance at his advanced statistics will tell the story of a playmaker being thrust into an unnatural role. Havertz hasn’t looked out of place, his talent is just being, for lack of a better term, wasted, up top. His inability to score when playing as a lone striker combined with his unselfishness have led to those around him stepping up. Reece James’ brace at Newcastle and Ziyech’s tidy finish against Malmo are the most recent examples of this.
All of this serves as a reminder that although Chelsea broke its club record fee to bring in Lukaku this summer, it also allowed two strikers (Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud) to walk. The Blues have plenty of players who are able to play in the No. 9 role in Havertz, Werner and even Pulisic in emergency situations, but they aren’t the most impactful. Tuchel has reportedly asked the club to go and get him another striker during the winter transfer window. Although the move may seem puzzling when one considers the Lukaku acquisition, it makes sense in the long run and in case of injury. The purchasing of a solid back-up forward would allow Chelsea to keep its creative players where they belong while maximizing its chances in Lukaku’s absence.
3. The Cobham boys are back
If there’s one positive in the fact that a handful of the Blues’ starting XI mainstays are missing it’s that Tuchel gets to evaluate the performances of the back-ups and reserves. Surprising performances from the likes of Ross Barkley and Saul on the season—albeit on different spectrums—sum up these interesting developments. Two of the main players who have been under the spotlight recently are Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
The former of the two has gotten a greater number of chances as of late due to the plethora of attacking injuries. Havertz has been forced to play centrally and with Pulisic absent until the Malmo match, the options were limited out wide. Before this season, a lot of Hudson-Odoi’s appearances under Tuchel came as a right wingback. He struggled to adapt to the new position and it’s a tall ask of anyone to overtake Cesar Azpilicueta and James in their familiar roles. Hudson-Odoi, often a divisive figure in the mind of Tuchel, has seized the opportunities he’s been given in his natural position. Tuesday was no different.
Hudson-Odoi failed to really get going in the first half as Marcos Alonso was stepping all over him in possession. Nevertheless, the German gaffer brilliantly switched the English winger onto the right side where he was afforded more space and attacking freedom alongside Azpilicueta. The 20-year-old thrived in these wide open areas. His speed and skillset were on full display for the world, most notably on his sumptuous assist on the go-ahead goal. Hudson-Odoi was arguably the best player on the pitch on Tuesday night. One of the only other players who can potentially make that claim is his fellow academy graduate, Loftus-Cheek.
The 25-year-old midfielder took fans back in time against Malmo. Loftus-Cheek showed shades of his pre-injury self under Sarri as he glided across the pitch with a pinch of arrogance and an abundance of elegance. It’s safe to say now that he’s fully back. Loftus-Cheek was a large reason why Chelsea’s xG was so high in the Champions League clash. Unfortunately, his teammates were unable to get on the end of the chances he created. The one goal to the Blues’ name won’t end up telling the full story of how superb Loftus-Cheek truly was during the match. From cheeky flicks over defenders to dribbling by two men at once inside Malmo’s 18-year box, Loftus-Cheek was able to do it all on Tuesday. The Cobham boys stole the show once again. It was special seeing Mount and James thrive against Norwich, but it’s even sweeter to see the hyphenated-name assassins from the academy torment defenses after their brutal injuries a few seasons ago.
What are three lessons you learnt in the win? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!