Thomas Tuchel's very first game in charge of Chelsea was ironically dull given how chaotic the Blues' preparation for the outi...
Thomas Tuchel's very first game in charge of Chelsea was ironically dull given how chaotic the Blues' preparation for the outing was; a 0-0 draw with Wolves played out in front of an empty Stamford Bridge on a cold January night. Chelsea cut ties with Frank Lampard only 48 hours prior to the clash with Nuno Espirito Santo's side, with Tuchel drafted in the day before the vital Premier League match.
It has been widely recalled how Tuchel and his coaching staff decided on the setup for the first game of the German's tenure on the plane journey to London.
Tuchel opted to move away from Frank Lampard's
4-3-3 formation used for the majority of his time
at the helm and instead fielded a 3-4-2-1 shape,
not too far removed from Antonio Conte's setup
between 2016–18.
To the surprise of a lot of fans, star performer
Mason Mount was omitted from the starting XI
only days after wearing the captain's armband in
Lampard's final game.
Cesar Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger formed a back-three in front of Edouard Mendy. Callum Hudson-Odoi was fielded as a right wing- back, a role he would go on to play more under Tuchel, Ben Chilwell was at left wing-back, while Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic operated as the central midfield duo.
Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz started as floating 10s behind the centre forward Olivier Giroud. Tuchel explained the day after that he wanted to rely on the senior figures within Chelsea's squad for his very first game, giving players who had been slightly discarded by Lampard a chance to impress.
In the build-up phase of play, Chelsea operated in a 3-2-5 formation presented below, pushing the two wing-backs high up the pitch. Jorginho and Kovacic remained central, Ziyech and Havertz came narrow on either side of Giroud and both wing-backs were stretched wide. Defensively the hosts were a lot more conservative than under Lampard, usually having four or five players to prevent any transitions materialising from the visitors.
Notably from this game, the reliance on wing- backs to either create or finish chances took centre stage. Hudson-Odoi's direct running and dribbling provided Giroud with a brilliant opportunity to open the scoring in the first 20 minutes, while Chilwell got on the end of two good flowing moves but failed to provide the finishing touch.
The contrast between that performance and the beginning of the 2021/22 season is stark, with both Chilwell and Reece James now having fine- tuned these aspects of their games to become prolific in the final third.
Cesar Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger formed a back-three in front of Edouard Mendy. Callum Hudson-Odoi was fielded as a right wing- back, a role he would go on to play more under Tuchel, Ben Chilwell was at left wing-back, while Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic operated as the central midfield duo.
Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz started as floating 10s behind the centre forward Olivier Giroud. Tuchel explained the day after that he wanted to rely on the senior figures within Chelsea's squad for his very first game, giving players who had been slightly discarded by Lampard a chance to impress.
In the build-up phase of play, Chelsea operated in a 3-2-5 formation presented below, pushing the two wing-backs high up the pitch. Jorginho and Kovacic remained central, Ziyech and Havertz came narrow on either side of Giroud and both wing-backs were stretched wide. Defensively the hosts were a lot more conservative than under Lampard, usually having four or five players to prevent any transitions materialising from the visitors.
Notably from this game, the reliance on wing- backs to either create or finish chances took centre stage. Hudson-Odoi's direct running and dribbling provided Giroud with a brilliant opportunity to open the scoring in the first 20 minutes, while Chilwell got on the end of two good flowing moves but failed to provide the finishing touch.
The contrast between that performance and the beginning of the 2021/22 season is stark, with both Chilwell and Reece James now having fine- tuned these aspects of their games to become prolific in the final third.
Seven of the 11 players who started Tuchel's first
game would start the Champions League final in
Porto four months later. N'Golo Kante, Timo
Werner, Mason Mount and James were the four
who earned the right to start Chelsea's biggest
game for many years.
The seven who were selected came to represent the players Tuchel would come to trust the most - with Mount soon joining that list. Mendy, Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger and Jorginho all over the age of 28 and figures that would form the bulk of a resolute defence in the Champions League run.
The seven who were selected came to represent the players Tuchel would come to trust the most - with Mount soon joining that list. Mendy, Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger and Jorginho all over the age of 28 and figures that would form the bulk of a resolute defence in the Champions League run.
An interesting stat from the night was that
Chelsea's PPDA (Passes Allowed Per Defensive
Action), a metric used to analyse a team's level of
pressing, was the highest under Tuchel in the
Premier League so far at 4.53.
The Wolves game was also the second-highest possession Chelsea have enjoyed to date in the Premier League since Tuchel's arrival. It's ironic that the final game before Tuchel's one- year anniversary brought with it another tactical switch against Tottenham with the 4-1-4-1 formation. Tuchel has started to use a four-man defence following the injuries to Chilwell and James.
Similar to the 4-2-2-2 formation he used in Dortmund, this system will hopefully evolve Chelsea into a more prolific attacking team and likely provided a glimpse of what the next 12 months could hold. That number seven is relevant again here as seven of Tuchel's recent lineup in the 2-0 win over Spurs included players from the first teamsheet against Wolves.
Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger, Jorginho, Kovacic, Hudson-Odoi and Ziyech all started, with Ziyech and Silva scoring the winning goals. Tuchel is aiming to make Chelsea a tactically dynamic team that can shift into different formations depending on the circumstance and opponent.
More time and wise transfers will aid this evolution but one thing that cannot be doubted since that first game is Tuchel has kept a promise set after his first outing in the Stamford Bridge dugout.
"I’m used to creating the special energy and atmosphere you need to create for the possibility to win every three days in a league like this. I believe we can do this on a daily basis. "We will build a team nobody wants to play against.” Tuchel has certainly achieved that.
The Wolves game was also the second-highest possession Chelsea have enjoyed to date in the Premier League since Tuchel's arrival. It's ironic that the final game before Tuchel's one- year anniversary brought with it another tactical switch against Tottenham with the 4-1-4-1 formation. Tuchel has started to use a four-man defence following the injuries to Chilwell and James.
Similar to the 4-2-2-2 formation he used in Dortmund, this system will hopefully evolve Chelsea into a more prolific attacking team and likely provided a glimpse of what the next 12 months could hold. That number seven is relevant again here as seven of Tuchel's recent lineup in the 2-0 win over Spurs included players from the first teamsheet against Wolves.
Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger, Jorginho, Kovacic, Hudson-Odoi and Ziyech all started, with Ziyech and Silva scoring the winning goals. Tuchel is aiming to make Chelsea a tactically dynamic team that can shift into different formations depending on the circumstance and opponent.
More time and wise transfers will aid this evolution but one thing that cannot be doubted since that first game is Tuchel has kept a promise set after his first outing in the Stamford Bridge dugout.
"I’m used to creating the special energy and atmosphere you need to create for the possibility to win every three days in a league like this. I believe we can do this on a daily basis. "We will build a team nobody wants to play against.” Tuchel has certainly achieved that.
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