How Chelsea have matched 116 year old record using intense counter press
To date, implementing this style is just one of the big positives Thomas Tuchel has bought in
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Thomas Tuchel has now gone 14 games unbeaten as Chelsea manager since the end of January when he took the reigns.
Within those games he has got 11 clean sheets.
Chelsea have now matched a record set in our very first season in existence back in 1905/06 by getting 7 clean sheets in a row on Sunday against Sheffield United.
The German head coach has simply turned this team into a solid defensive unit, but how has he done it?
Well, the simple answer is, he has got them defending from the very front, right back down to the goalkeeper.
Critics will often point fingers at defenders as individuals, the goalkeeper as an individual, or the defence as a collective when looking to blame a bad defensive record.
However, the expression ‘attack is your best form of defence’ cannot be truer under Tuchel at Chelsea right now.
He has implemented a very impressive and intensive counter-press at Chelsea, meaning the whole team collectively go on the hunt to get the ball back at speed, immediately after they have given away possession.
Tuchel looks to control games with his team keeping the ball and if they aren’t keeping the ball, then they are busting an absolute gut to get it back.
It is a tactic that needs pace, energy, intelligence, instructions, but most of all, it needs every player doing it.
Chelsea don’t give away anywhere near the amount of counter attacking opportunities as they did before Tuchel arrived, simply because they don’t allow their opponent to play out fast as they are shutting down the pass or the clearance very quick.
Stopping the opponent playing deep into their own half stops any momentum and attacks building further up the pitch, it has been such a simple but effective difference.
This will of course not stop goals going in, it is impossible to do that, we will always concede. But it reduces the chances of conceding goals, and reduces the chance an opponent has to keep the ball and move up the pitch with it to threatening areas.
Chelsea are counter pressing perfectly right now.
Written by Simon Phillips (@siphillipssport)