Chelsea’s Defensive Issues
A major issue with Maresca’s out-of-possession approach was the mix of zonal and man-oriented defending. This hybrid strategy created significant gaps in Chelsea’s defensive structure. Neto was instructed to press the Arsenal left center-back and then the goalkeeper. Nkunku pressed the right center-back if the ball was passed and kept the right-back in his cover shadow.
Cucurella was responsible for jumping up to press the right-back if he received the ball. Meanwhile, Caicedo and James were given man-marking duties on Ødegaard and Rice. Chelsea’s backline initially had a +1 advantage but transitioned to a man-to-man approach when Cucurella pressed forward.
My main problem with this approach is that if the central no.8s (Rice and Odegaard) pulled out wide or dropped deep, it'd create a massive hole centrally and between the lines.
— Fahd (@fahdahmed987) March 18, 2025
This could easily be exploited by the Arsenal frontline or inverted left-back, Lewis-Skelly.
However,… pic.twitter.com/s9NHPdhAvH
The main concern with this approach was that if Rice or Ødegaard moved wide or dropped deep, it created massive holes centrally and between the lines. This could have been easily exploited by Arsenal’s frontline or by their inverted left-back, Lewis-Skelly.
However, Arsenal surprisingly chose to go long more often than expected, likely to exploit Chelsea’s transition into man-to-man marking. There was an opportunity for Arsenal to capitalize on Chelsea’s gaps by playing short, but they opted for a more direct approach.
Another problem was that when Arsenal pinned Chelsea back, the team looked completely disorganized. The low-block setup did help in preventing Arsenal from breaking through, but Chelsea’s rest defense structure was so compromised that they struggled to get out of their half.