Chelsea drew 1-1 at home to Brighton, and the point gap with Manchester City widened further, and in just 6 rounds of matches, Chelsea lost 9 points (2 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss), almost hopeless for the title.
Once upon a time, Chelsea was the best-performing team in the Premier League and the entire European continent, conceding only six goals in 14 rounds; however, by the end of 20 rounds, that number had soared to 14.
Chelsea's once proud steel defense is gone, the offensive end has not improved much, and the decline in record is inevitable, but the speed of Chelsea's fall is slightly faster, which makes people a little caught off guard.
We take Chelsea's 1-1 home draw with Brighton as an example, although it seems a pity that Chelsea did not equalize until stoppage time. However, both in terms of the scene and from the data point of view (11 to 18 shots on goal, 47% to 53%) of the ball control), Chelsea did not take much advantage, even some passive side.
The reason is simple, when Chelsea's midfielder sends a combination of Kovacic and Jorginho, when Pulisic makes a cameo at right wing-back, and Rees James pulls to the left wing-back position, we feel that Chelsea is a bit fierce in this game, there is no hardness in the defense of the middle, not to mention, the two sides are also a bit awkward, it is difficult to fly.
In fact, due to the impact of the epidemic and injuries, Chelsea has been awkward for several games, and Indian center Lukaku has been slow to integrate into the team, and has suffered from injuries and epidemics, Tuchel has to let Havertz make a cameo in this position, and even Mount will temporarily save the fire.
However, during the time when Lukaku was absent, Chelsea played a good overall effect, one is that After a season of tempering, Havertz's body is no longer like a sick student who touched it when he first arrived, and the second is that Chelsea's two wings can fly up, and Zilweil and James's wing attacks make many teams difficult to overcome.
Chelsea's No. 7 player, recognized as the iron gate, and Jorginho, a midfielder who has been practicing in the Premier League for several seasons but still has some fear of being pushed close, form another eye for Tuchel's 5-2-3 tactical system.
Chelsea's ability to organise and wash the ball relies more on two main midfielders, and the advance relies on two powerful wing-sides, so that the team's side-to-center form a perfect organic whole, and Tuchel's 5-2-3 formation is no less than any of the main attacking formations.
At that time, whether it was Rudiger, Christensen, or Zilweil, Rees James, or Mount, Jorginho, they could help Chelsea to build a lot of miracles, Chelsea blossomed, and even the goals of the back line often became the winners and losers of the game, we affectionately called Chelsea's style of play "driving backwards", but this "reverse" drove really fragrant.
However, when the author originally lamented that Tuchel can let Chelsea play three center-backs, can make the front court attack picturesque, but also do not forget to emphasize many times that Chelsea is the Center of india must play a role, after all, the center is the closest player to the goal, just like playing basketball closer to the basket, the easier it is to score a truth, Chelsea If the Indian center can not continue to provide output firepower, it is difficult to maintain a stable record.
Unfortunately, Chelsea did not wait until Lukaku returned from injury and found his form, there were many problems in succession, the No. 7 player in midfield could not play for a while, Zilwell was seriously injured in the season reimbursement, the team suffered a new crown, and the state after the resumption of the game was completely absent.
Although Romelu Lukaku has now returned, Chelsea has almost exhausted all of his belongings in the previous games, leaving Lukaku with little chance to shine and save the team.
For example, against Brighton, Reese James was injured in the first half and could not hold on to the game after only 27 minutes, which was caused by fatigue caused by overuse.
However, if you don't use it too much, what can you do? Chelsea's squad building is originally a whole body, the lack of a midfield duo will be greatly reduced, the same reason for the wing four, the original center is not very powerful, if Mount and Hudson-Odoi are absent, the width of the field and the ribs will not be able to use flexibly.
This is especially true for the wing-backs, chelsea wing-backs have to take on heavy round-trip tasks, not only responsible for advancing, but also rushing to the midfield to assist the defense, when the wing-backs are missing one side, the pressure on the other side can be imagined, how big it will be.
Now that the other wing-back is injured, Chelsea's "reverse" is completely unable to drive, which can make Tuchel sad.