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With Kai Havertz joining, Chelsea have significantly bolstered their attacking options for the coming season. The question still remains - how will they lineup next season?
(A Short Thread)
(A Short Thread)
Due to uncertainty over who will be playing as our GK, I will leave that position out. I will also assume that there will be no more outfield player signings.
Lineup 1 - My personal first choice lineup. Depends heavily on Kanté’s form & fitness. FB’s push high and provide the width. MF 3 provide deep progression and protect against transitions. As I’ve previously mentioned, ( https://twitter.com/jbsfutbol/status/1299329635298217984?s=21) I believe this midfield is...
still a top midfield with Jorginho & Kovačić controlling possession, and Kanté & Kovačić staying close to Jorginho to cover his lack of mobility. Restricting Kanté’s movement to deeper areas will also help to save his legs, which will, eventually, go.
Pulisic primarily lines up as a false 9, but given the versatility of the front 3, they can all easily rotate. A badly drawn example, but for example, if building up on the right, Havertz can drop and Pulisic can move to RW to hold the shape, providing threat in behind.
(I apologise for the drawing and potentially unrealistic movement, I’m no artist, it’s not meant to be perfect, just to represent the idea)
I think this system suits Werner and Havertz especially as they are both extremely quick, have excellent movement, and an eye for goal. By playing them as inside forwards, they are not required in buildup as much and so can find space to operate in (similar to Salah/Mané)
Lineup 2 - If Kanté can’t return to form or fitness. Similar principles apply to lineup 1, but with James inverting, CHO providing width, and Havertz providing threat from midfield. Arguably the rotations would be slightly less natural, but the prospect remains nonetheless.
This would also give more minutes to arguably our top prospect, CHO, although I would prefer him on the left long term. Here, Havertz would take the “Lampard role”, making late runs into the box, scoring goals from midfield, with James providing cover in defence and building…
Up from deep. This is probably Havertz’s long term position, but realistically I don’t think he’s quite ready for it yet. The left side remains the same, Chilwell providing width, Werner making out to in runs in behind, Kovačić progressing the ball and remaining deep to cover.
Lineup 3 - Attacking 8s. The first predicted rather than preferred lineup in this thread, Lampard has shown desire at both Derby and Chelsea to play a system with 2 attacking 8s and overlapping FBs. I personally think we should keep clear of lining up like this. While results…
Were admittedly better with this setup, I do not think it is sustainable. The lineup dynamics are bad, and the performances were very poor. Would be an absolute crime to leave out our best player and POTS, and we would be very vulnerable to transitions.
However, if this system is the future for us, I do hope that it proves me very wrong. We’ll see if Lampard continues with this setup next season or opts for another system.
Lineup 4 - How I think Chelsea will lineup primarily. A similar system to what was played against Brighton. Werner has a free role, constantly moving deep and/or wide, and Havertz moves into the ST space created by his movement, and Pulisic/Ziyech move infield to link play.
In this system, there would be (as mentioned by others) lots of rotations between all of the front 4, with all being very positionally versatile. On paper, it would not be dissimilar to a 442/424 from Leipzig, which Werner thrived in. Kovačić stays deep, providing progression…
And covering, hopefully Kanté learns to stay reasonably deep aswell (not ending up playing on the wing). I am slightly worried about susceptibility to transitions, but that can easily be rectified by coaching the FBs and wingers when to hold position and when to roam offensively.
For example, if Ziyech comes inside, James overlaps, Pulisic stays wide, Chilwell stays back to cover.
It will be interesting to see how Chelsea lineup this season, will Lampard try to use a single system or will he, similar to this season, change up the system regularly?
Thank you for reading, please give your thoughts, RTs are also appreciated :)
