Firstly, it should be noted that until new information comes to light in the Lukaku situation there will be no further mention of the matter in this column. A meeting is going to be had between Lukaku and Tuchel on Monday, but it is likely that any further disciplinary action will be kept behind closed doors.
That said, the Liverpool match was a sign of something that it will be good for everyone to keep in mind. Chelsea should be prepared not to play with Lukaku in the side again. Would it be nice to have the record signing in club history with the team? Yes, but a good team needs to be well adjusted so that one single injury can’t impact the trajectory of the entire season.
Again, to cite the example of Manchester City as the most effectively run club side in the world, would anybody worry if Jack Grealish was injured? No. Would the Citizens’ title hopes be dashed by Gabriel Jesus being injured? No. They could be affected by Kevin De Bruyne, but at the same time, that would make more sense as he has been a part of the side for six years. He is not a new signing who has only been present and fit for 18 matches.
Tactics
The big issue at Chelsea at the moment is the injuries to the two star wingbacks. Reece James and Ben Chilwell were the best wingback combination in the world when they both went down. It was so clearly a part of the Blues’ play that it is almost unbelievable that people didn’t immediately start to panic in regards to this. Chelsea has a couple of options now.
The Blues can change formations, which makes sense if they’re not going to make any January signings. That’s something that shouldn’t be counted on. Though it fits the defensive line and the wingback issue that the club currently has, it should of course be taken into account that the rest of the team has learned its patterns of play and styles of attacking and defending in the current set up now over the course of the last year. It could be incredibly destabilizing to the team to reshuffle. That could then, in turn, lead to more mistakes in the press and the team’s defensive and attacking acumen because in order to fix one issue, it’d create others.
Ultimately, in Tuchel’s tactics, the point is for the team to defend as an XI and attack as an XI. That means switching to a back four—though maybe suitable in some ways—could actually be dangerous in others.
The other option tactically is maybe switching from 3-4-2-1 to a simple 3-5-2 formation. Getting more bodies into the midfield and relying more on controlling the center of the pitch and playing to the team’s strength in depth in midfield could be useful. Though Chelsea is weak in some areas that certainly isn’t central midfielders. Between Mason Mount, N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho, Ross Barkley, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Saul, it’s actually the deepest part of the team.
A switch to 3-5-2 would allow Chelsea to provide more support in the defensive third of the pitch while still controlling the midfield and compensating for the injuries at wingback. Chelsea could play with two defensive-minded midfielders and a No. 8 or 10 in front of them. This triangle would provide easy passing outlets and lanes for the team to move forward with pace while not fundamentally changing the Blues’ style of play.
The current set-up with only two central midfielders means the two must work incredibly hard to cover more space defensively and while attacking. If the wingbacks in the current side simply can’t cover the amount of distance that the other two do then providing as much support and solidity to them while not necessary requiring them to also create more attacking chances is a great option. Thus, for the time being and as a non-permanent choice, players like Saul, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian Pulisic would be able to platoon the aid of Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso more easily because of a lessening of the defensive workload. A Kante, Kovacic and Mount three has the perfect combination to do this.
In the front two then I’d play a combination of Kai Havertz and Timo Werner or Havertz and Hudson-Odoi or Pulisic. If Lukaku makes a public full apology to the club, Mr. Abramovich, Thomas Tuchel, his teammates and the fans then I’d allow him to work his way back. First back into training and the bench before eventually with time that he must earn through good honest training. Once he has earned back the trust of his teammates following his public betrayal, he could play in the top-two partnering Havertz. That combination could, if everything goes right, be the sort of thing dreams are made of anyway.
That keeps the back three system, as well. One reason for this is my longstanding theory that Chelsea’s defense simply is not good enough to play a back four. The Blues’ quality has been misrepresented by the fact that they often make many mistakes that are simply compensated for by their numbers. To have an even less solid side in front of them through a lack of practice and structure could very possibly be cataclysmic. It is so hard to change the structure of the team during the season because there simply is not enough time between matches, travel, rest and preparation to go back to basics on formation training. The team needs to stay calm at the moment with everything going on, both on and off the field. Putting even a shred of doubt into the side when it needs to be able to rely on its subconscious for stability is not the move to make.
The conclusion that I come to then is that for a couple of matches, I would be willing to go with a 3-5-2 in order to keep three at the back and a little bit more of the similar midfield structure in front of them. The truth is, in the end, the thing that would work best for Chelsea is to make signings to replace the players who are injured and provide depth for the future. It is not as if Tuchel didn’t know his side was running this risk. It is why he pushed for Achraf Hakimi in the summer. Tuchel predicted that Chelsea could be in this scenario and now look—here we are.
Signings will be necessary. Chelsea cannot forfeit anything. That’s not what the Blues do. The Premier League will still be difficult to achieve, but Chelsea is still fighting for a six-trophy season and surrender is unacceptable.