Perhaps Chelsea should be hesitant about the centerbacks’ contracts

Chelsea took a 180-degree turn when former Paris Saint Germain manager Thomas Tuchel took the reins from Chelsea legend Frank Lampard. This arrival saw many players get a new lease of life, seeing them perform at astronomical levels to deliver the biggest price in club football. Unfortunately, the appointment of Tuchel, coincided with the closing stages of the current contracts of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen., with Frank Lampard actively trying to sell the former a year ago.

Truth be told, Rudiger had several unsatisfactory moments in Chelsea’s back four in the closing stages of the 2019/20 league season, as he had a habit of rashly rushing out of the defensive line to try snuff out attacks, which is unwise when you only have one centerback partner. Andreas Christensen had also shown a lack of spatial awareness at points in the same season, finding himself out of position several times in key defensive situations. All these led Chelsea to look into the market for a new centerback, with Rudiger placed on the transfer market and Christensen popularly regarded by the hierarchy and the fans as a backup option.

Chelsea brought in Thiago Silva and paired him with now West Ham centerback Kurt Zouma. Lampard settled on this partnership for the 2020/21 season, and they recorded 6 clean sheets in 17 league games under him. This partnership was working until the team’s structural and coaching issues came home to roost. Chelsea found themselves struggling to score, while still conceding a lot of quality chances and goals because of how exposed the centerbacks and the whole backline was.

Chelsea also had a situation in central midfield that saw Jorginho see the bench more often than the pitch and Mateo Kovacic rarely start games, despite the latter winning Chelsea Player of the Year in the 2019/20 season. Lampard deployed N’Golo Kante as sole central defensive midfielder, but that also was not enough, because the defensive issues were structural, not just personnel related.

There was reason to believe that Chelsea had only two players that were capable of delivering results in a back four, with evidence showing Rudiger and Christensen were having problems doing that, and Tuchel seems to agree. It was on Lampard to change the formation, but the former England International did not want to play with a back three, probably associating three centerback formations with cowardice.

Tuchel came in, and instantly moved to a three centerback formation, restoring club captain Cesar Azpilicueta as a centerback and deploying him alongside Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger. Azpilicueta in the back three provided an attacking threat from a very capable defender, so that the captain often provided overlapping runs to create overloads on the right flank. Tuchel also returned largely ignored midfielders in Kovacic and Jorginho. This new system seemed to fit several players better, highlighting the need for allowing the players to determine the system, rather than choosing a system and then shoehorning players into it.

Tuchel mentioned that he thought Kante was better in a double six/double pivot, where Kante is deployed alongside someone else in a midfield two. Tuchel was spot on, because every trophy Kante had been a part of, bar the Europa League title, he had played big roles in a midfield two. Leicester City’s league title in 2015/16, Chelsea’s league title in 2016/17 and France’s World Cup in 2018, all saw Kante play key roles in a midfield two. This, along with the fact that Tuchel wanted to use Rudiger, but knew that he would be lacking in a two centerback formation, informed the change to 3-4-2-1.

This new formation, along with the tactical instructions Tuchel gave to the players, saw Chelsea instantly fix the defensive issues they had, giving them a platform to win games without needing to score lots of goals. The success Chelsea got, was as much credit to Tuchel as it was to the players, as Tuchel made the change and the players delivered the performances to bring home the trophies.

Christensen and Rudiger are now close to being out of contract and they are making demands that, though unclear, are making the Chelsea hierarchy hesitant to go ahead with negotiations. It is believed that Rudiger wants to be one of Chelsea’s highest earners, probably based on his performances, which perhaps brings us to the other issue

Tuchel arrived at Chelsea on January 26, 2021, and since the formation change, many of the central midfielders, wingbacks and centerbacks have been performing at near excellent levels. They have not played at this level for up to 12 months though. Christensen and Rudiger have been very good for nine months, but before then, there was reason for the club to be prepared to put them on the market.

Yes, that was largely because Lampard chose a formation that did not suit his players, but two centerback formations are very common, and to not be able to hold your own in a back four, it is worth considering if the form of these centerbacks is more down to their own ability, rather than the system change. Had Tuchel used the same system Lampard tried, and it had worked with these same players it would have been obvious that it was just a lack of coaching instructions to the whole team that lead to the subpar performances from these centerbacks.

Many may disagree with this, but centerbacks in a back four have much more to do than centerbacks in a back three, especially when you want to play a line as high as Chelsea’s. The space for centerbacks to cover in a back four is significantly more, than that of a back three. Tuchel reduced the amount of space each centerback had to defend.

Tuchel decided to go to a back three, despite knowing that he’d be underutilizing his forwards and knowing it’d reduce the number of forwards and attacking midfielders he’d be able to use, despite this he still decided to use more centerbacks. For context, if you count Azpilicueta as a centerback, Chelsea had five centerbacks, four central midfielders and eight forwards at the time of Tuchel’s arrival.

The German knew that by choosing to use three centerbacks he’d be using more slots in the starting lineup that could be filled by forwards, however he chose to make that sacrifice, why? He simply couldn’t play a back four. The only way Tuchel would have been able to utilize more forwards is if he had played a back four, that way players like Kai Havertz and Mason Mount could even be deployed in midfield roles, reducing the congestion in the depth chart in the forward roles.

This shows that Tuchel’s hand was forced based on the individual deficiencies of the players at his disposal. In fact, Tuchel opted to play Reece James – a full back/wingback – as a third centerback in a cup game rather than playing a back four, this shows how unwilling the Chelsea boss is to play a back four. Yes, Christensen and Rudiger have been playing out of their skin, however they have been doing that for nine months and in specific circumstances, having been subpar in other circumstances.

The club may be hesitant to succumb to the demands of these centerbacks, with the knowledge that they could still need to look into the market again, should Tuchel decide to abandon the three centerback formation he’s currently welded to, and they may have reason to be. Again, the German and Danish duo have been superb for Chelsea since the arrival of Tuchel, but it cannot be ignored that Tuchel went out of his way to create circumstances that would suit their skillset.