Crystal Palace v Chelsea: Tactical Analysis

Classic Game of 2 halves

Chelsea lined up with the same 4-2-3-1 team as the game vs Villa except for Thiago Silva who started for the injured Badashille. Palace lined up in their own 4-3-3 with many of their influential players out for this game.

There were multiple issues as to why Chelsea recorded one of the worst halves of chances they have had this season with an xG of 0.13

Firstly in the build-up, the CBs seemed to have a lack of passing options, especially when Caicedo, who is usually ahead of them, was in the middle of them. Enzo was then also isolated in the middle, and Gallagher or Palmer took turns to drop deep but not at the right time to be there to progress the ball. It made Disasi and Silva dally on the ball and try a lot of carrying to find space since there were few progressive central passing options available.

Another structural issue was the space between the midfield and attack as we were not able to progress the ball through the middle because of the bad positioning of our players in the build-up. We were slow to give it to our wide players meaning they were already receiving into a packed area on the wings.

The right-wing especially was too crowded with players clashing with their teammates. Gusto would be in the same horizontal lane with Noni, so it would be easy to defend against receiving like that. Palmer, Gallagher and Noni could also occupy the same space where 1 player is usually meant to occupy.

So the winger/wide player has no option but to pass back; Noni and Chilwell did a lot of that. The team wasn’t able to create space for them to receive and give crosses/cutbacks, but also credit to Palace for a dogged shape. All this meant we hardly had inroads into Palace's box.

Another thing it meant was we were too far apart to stop counterattacks from Palace because we weren’t in the right shape. Especially when our CBs aren’t aggressive enough to close down the strikers. For example, Mateta dropped deep to help his team and no CBs followed him, which meant when he got the ball, he turned unopposed and no one stopped him from starting a counter.

That was the issue we had creating chances, but Palace had not threatened our goal either until we started making mistakes, and in the end they cost us. Gusto making a mistake and Noni messing up that sequence of play gave them a chance for a goal, albeit a foul not attended to.

In the times when Noni and Gusto were the only ones occupying the right side, you could see the better spacing and Gusto had space and could deliver dangerous balls into the box, the same applies to Chilwell on the other side.

Contrary to what a lot are saying, Poch changed it at halftime. I think what Poch changed was not letting those players clash in the same zone by removing Noni and bringing someone that would occupy the left/central in Nkunku, as this scenario before halftime was basically how we scored in the 2nd half.

In the 2nd half, when Nkunku came in, Gusto had the width, Palmer could receive there and cut inside, Jackson and Nkunku as the 2 strikers, and Gallagher was also in the left half-space, causing a central overload. This was Poch’s classic Spurs team setup.

With Enzo and Caicedo behind them with our 2 CBs, they manipulated the ball to the wing and did a few rotations which freed Gusto for a cross. And with a central overload, it meant the box was fully occupied.

Remember the last chance of the 1st half? Fabulous finish.

The central overload was a good plan because Palace were defending with a 4 and they were all focused on keeping their shape, so it made Gusto free on the wing to pick out passes. Palace didn’t defend the cutbacks well so it was always on. Palmer didn’t play all of them, but it’s repeatable patterns that ended up winning the game for Chelsea.

The wide overloads were moving Palace around giving space for crosses.

Small detail but I had to point it out since I didn’t do the Wolves review, what I saw when I rewatched it, especially in the 2nd half. It was a case of Wolves terrorizing us from goal kicks by failing to win the 2nd balls. This has to be sorted, Caicedo used to look isolated in those situations while the CBs were all on one line which shouldn’t be so.

Palmer also had more time and space to be given the ball in the half-spaces and tried to turn and give through balls to Jackson on multiple occasions. it shows we had different methods of creating chances in the 2nd half.

We also got some chances to win the ball back high when we lost the ball in attack, including some where the cutback should have been given but wasn’t.

We got our goals from devastating breaks with precision finishing in the end, the decisiveness was good to see with a team that isn’t decisive. Gallagher and Enzo were amongst the goals.

Chelsea in the first half and 2nd half were complete night and day. The structure improved and we were much better. Considering the heat of the moment we didn’t look as good, but rewatching without emotions shows a lot and it was a deserved win considering how we played in the 2nd half and allowed only 1 dangerous shot from Palace in that 2nd.

Now we need to carry the winning feeling to Man City on Saturday, which is a very a tall order.

Seun