In part one, we looked at the defensive situation at Chelsea and put their defensive numbers in context, comparing it to other teams and to other seasons.
It was clear that yes, the Blues are struggling with defending set pieces, as well as defending from open play. This brings us to the next question. It’s not normal for a team to go from being one of the best defenses in the division to be one of the worst, so what is the cause of all these issues?
That is also not easy to answer, as defending is triggered by many different things and is a team effort. Many things contribute to how well a team would do defensively.
Chelsea’s Ball retention
One of those factors is ball retention. There’s a reason Manchester City has very good defensive numbers. Their team is filled with players with superb ball retention. This means they’d lose the ball less, concede fewer counter-attacks, and give up fewer shots and by extension fewer shots on target.
Man City plays out from the back through their centerbacks and central midfielders, much like CFC. Their first-choice centerback and a key player in their play, Ruben Dias, averages 83 passes per game at a 93% accuracy according to SofaScore. The surprising thing is that he’s not the CB with the highest passing accuracy, in fact, he has the lowest. Nathan Ake (95%) and John Stones (97%) have higher passing accuracy.
Let’s take a look at the midfield. Rodri leads Manchester City in passes per game (90.2) at a 92% passing accuracy. He also leads the team in accurate long balls per game (4.8) at a 74% long ball accuracy. Ilkay Gundogan, who has started five out of six Premier League matches so far also has a 90% passing accuracy. This shows that Manchester City keeps the ball incredibly well in key areas that determine defensive solidity. Ball retention in the final third doesn’t do much for defensive solidity because you’re naturally expected to lose the ball the most in those areas.
No, I didn’t come here to wax lyrical about Manchester City’s centerhalves and midfielders. Those numbers will become relevant soon. Chelsea’s best ball-playing centerback is Thiago Silva. This season he has averaged 89% passing accuracy. 89%. This is a key player in an area of the field where ball retention is key. Kalidou Koulibaly has started five out of six games for Chelsea this season. He has an 84% passing accuracy. Jorginho, who is key to how Chelsea brings the ball out of the defense, has an 85% passing accuracy.
Remember that Manchester City has several players in defense and midfield that are impeccable at ball retention. Chelsea has few players that were good at it. Were, because they’ve shown none of that ball retention ability this season. One cause of the problem begins to show. The alarming thing is that the above-mentioned Chelsea players’ pass percentages aren’t influenced by long balls. Attempting a large number of long balls will mean that your passing accuracy will suffer. These players, however, have very good long ball accuracy, so it means that they’re struggling with completing short and medium-range passes. This is the first thing that needs to improve. Chelsea cannot reduce the number of shots they allow if key centerbacks and central midfielders are struggling with ball retention.
New arrivals in the back line
The second factor to consider is the new arrivals. This is one that neither Tuchel nor the players can do about yet, but it has definitely contributed to the issue. Defenses are better the more structured they are. This means that the less changed a back line is, the better. Chelsea’s back line heavily consisted of Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger last season. This season Rudiger is no longer there, and now Wesley Fofana has also been added to that back line on the right of Silva.
Silva has never played with Koulibaly or Fofana prior to this season. This means that before they can begin to churn out top defensive performances, they must be on the same page in terms of communication. Good communication among centerbacks would solve problems like having free runners in the box; knowing who is stepping out into the midfield to try and stop developing attacks and who’s sitting back to sweep; knowing who’s stepping out to tackle and who’s staying back as cover, and many more. All these would come with time. Edouard Mendy and Thiago Silva will need to take some responsibility for this as well because they play a big part in organizing the defense.
System of defending set pieces
Finally, set pieces. Having a tall team is not enough to make you good at set pieces. Positioning before the ball is kicked and after the ball is kicked is extremely important in set pieces. In fact, everything is extremely important in a set-piece situation. Chelsea was using a man-marking system for defending set pieces last season and it was successful, perhaps because they had the personnel for it.
The Blues lost four players over six feet they had in the squad last season. Marcos Alonso (6 ft. 2), Romelu Lukaku (6 ft. 3), Andreas Christensen (6 ft. 2), and Antonio Rudiger (6 ft. 3) all played huge roles in Chelsea’s set-piece defending. Especially Rudiger and Alonso, who played 33 league games and 28 league games respectively last season. Christensen also played a big part, as he played 50% of the Blues’ league games. This has undoubtedly had an effect on how Tuchel sets his team up to defend aerially.
Now, the Blues are using a zonal marking system, which restricts players’ positions from the get-go. This also means that the role of each player is somewhat ambiguous in a set piece, as players are responsible for “areas” rather than a single person. Therefore opponents can plan for and exploit Chelsea in set pieces if they do their due diligence.
A common theme in the set pieces the Blues have conceded this season is centerbacks not being close to anyone when the ball comes in or centerbacks losing their markers. In at least two set-piece situations, Reece James has been the one contesting the aerial duel, often losing it, unsurprisingly. This isn’t particularly coincidental. In the free kick against Leeds for 2-0 and the corner against Tottenham Hotspur for 2-2, Koulibaly and Silva were nowhere near the action as they had been taken out of the game with the cross. Chelsea has acquired more players over 6 ft. now so expect Chelsea to go back to a system that works much better anytime soon. Fofana and Denis Zakaria are both 6 ft. 3.
This was mentioned briefly before, but it’s more than a small problem. Chelsea’s centerbacks and wingbacks have not done a good job of picking up runners. Against West Ham, Chelsea’s back line was dragged to their left during an attack, Cornet made his way from their left all the way over to the back post, running past a Koulibaly who never even turned his head to know where Cornet was. The result was a free header from Cornet in the six-yard box that hit the post. That is just one example. Against Southampton, Adam Armstrong’s run was not tracked by Silva nor Cesar Azpilicueta, allowing the Southampton forward to pick his spot in the box, sort his feet out, and score. This has been happening far too often and it needs to stop.
In conclusion, there is no simple way to solve the problems that Chelsea has at the moment, but identifying the problem is as important as solving it, perhaps more important. Tuchel has mentioned being weak in defending and that mentality is what the players need to defend better, this is obviously not true. Lack of ball retention in key areas of the pitch has a part to play; the addition of new faces into the back line means players like Silva and Mendy have to adjust to the change as well as the rest of the back line, and Chelsea’s system of defending set pieces means key centerbacks lose their markers often. These aren’t problems that will be solved in the space of a week, but Tuchel has shown that he’s good at identifying and solving the Blues’ defensive issues, and so he should be trusted with this one as well.
Credit to Jordan and Tyler for asking leading questions that shed some light on the possible causes of these defensive issues.