Aston Villa 2 Chelsea 2: Tactical Analysis

Preseason tactic saving Chelsea in the 2nd half

Aston Villa lined up in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation with the in-form Rodgers starting at LW, and the regular dependable team for Villa. Chelsea, after losing Enzo, returned to the front 6 that thrashed Everton 6-0. Chalobah came in at inverted RB for our-injured RBs.

Chelsea under Poch have usually built up in a 3-2 shape amongst other variations. In this line-up, in the first half the back 3 consisted of Silva, Badiashille and Chalobah. Gallagher and Caciedo played in the pivot, while Cucurella (LB) initially joined the front 5 line. We will reference this in the 2nd half.

Before the game could really settle, we allowed a petty Villa goal after it looked like the ball went out of play.

But the goal could have been easily avoided if Palmer put more pressure on Pau Torres, and Noni read the overlapping run of Digne. It was a very poor goal to concede, and it became a theme for the way Villa attacked throughout the first half.

Villa continued to get a lot of joy from the wide areas as Chelsea wingers (Noni and Mudryk) failed to track the runs of Cash and Digne adequately. This was clear for both goals for Villa as the wingers were late tracking the runs of Villa's fullbacks.

Villa also didn’t try to press Chelsea high as the last time they tried that at Villa Park, they got hammered by Chelsea's transition play. Same with Arsenal, they employed a 5-3-2/4-4-2 mid-to-low block with Bailey falling in and out of the backline to cover Cucurella and Chelsea's transition threat in general, and then looked to counterattack when they could.

The positioning of Chelsea’s players in their rest defence especially in the first half was poor and Villa broke through multiple times to create their chances. It was basically how they won the first half.

Villa did try to play out of the back whenever they had the chance, Chelsea also tried to press high in a 4-4-2 because Villa also built up in a 4-2 shape like we’ve seen plenty this season. It is usually a good man-to-man press that can stop them from playing out.

Villa also tried to use playing out of the back to transition when they broke the Chelsea press as well as their transition threat.

Chelsea facing the low block were in control of the game and the possession but didn’t pose as much threat on goal except for Jackson's offside goal. But it showed a trend of using the Space Villa left in behind that Chelsea tried to use in possession.

Chelsea did manage to get behind Villa at times with the right runs in behind like Jackson's offside goal. Mudryk did it here as well with a half-space pass from Badiashille. Chalobah and Palmer tried the same thing.

But Chelsea created their best chances by winning the ball high in Villa's final third either by pressing or counter-pressing.

The 2nd half brought an interesting tweak though. Immediately, Cucurella was inverted into midfield beside Caicedo, and Gallagher moved forward from the pivot and occupied the LHS (Left Half Space). Cucurella is comfortable in central areas but mainly his ability to defend aggressively will be better served in a set up that will be aggressive in the press and counter press. We didn't even use him on the ball as much as off it.

Chelsea's CBs also took very aggressive positions when Chelsea lost the ball, much better than the first half when we conceded counterattacks via poor rest defence positioning as Chelsea became more aggressive in their pressing.

Because of the Cucurella change and intensity with which we were playing off the ball in the 2nd half, Chelsea were able to press and counter-press effectively and sustain pressure consistently. Villa hardly got out of their half.

Chelsea continued to utilize those half-space runs in behind and passes to create chances; that and Noni's 1v1 game caused Villa problems. Those runs in behind were Chelsea's most in-possession route to breaking Villa's mid-block.

If you remember, it was what we used against Villa in the FA Cup tie at Stamford Bridge.

The aggressive nature of our play requires the CBs to be aggressive in their positioning continuously; here when Silva didn’t follow Rodgers who dropped deep to collect the ball, Villa had space to break through and attack.

We were denied a late winner in the end but. The tweak did the trick but it’s disappointing that Poch hasn’t tried Cucurella in that role since Preseason given different circumstances the team has found itself. We go on to the next game to get valuable points to qualify for Europe.

Seun