Chelsea beat Torttenham Hotspur 1-0 away and double-matched the League Cup (2-0 at home in the first leg) to advance to the final.
The outcome of the game, there is not much to say, Chelsea's strength is dominant, and the victory is completely reasonable. Interestingly, however, Tuchel did not adopt the three-centre-back system that has been used since joining Chelsea in this game, but instead played four at the back.
In the face of conte, the master of the three-centre-back system, Tuchel jean asked about "putting the three centre-backs, who is the better one?" The topic of the previous game only stayed, although from the perspective of sample explanation, a game is obviously not convincing, but Tuchel is more concerned about how to use the cards in his hand, rather than those insignificant false names.
It is worth mentioning that due to the injury of Chelsea's main right wing-back Rees James, the two teams met in the first leg, Tuchel actually let Ziyech play a cameo on the right wing-back, the overall formation of the team seems to be consciously switching between the three-centre-back system and the four-back system, no way, Ziyech is not a full-back material, the small body is very thin, if you take into account a large number of round-trip and landing defensive tasks, it is obviously a bit difficult to eat.
The two teams met in the second leg, Tuchelso directly abandoned the three-centre-back system, but played the four-back system, the formation is also quite unusual, it is a non-mainstream 4-2-2-2 system, Kovacic and Jorginho as the double back, Hudoi and Mount as the center forward, Werner and Lukaku played the double arrow.
The concept of this tactical design is very worthy of further investigation, and I feel that the reason why Tuchel adopts this tactical design idea is not only because there is no good right wing-back candidate in the team, Azpilicueta can also play this position, and the reason why Tuchel abandoned the three-centre-back system, I think the main consideration is how to activate Lukaku.
The previous interview incident in Lukaku clearly showed that he was very uncomfortable with playing a single arrow in the 5-2-3 system; Werner's effect of playing winger was actually not very good, and he was more suitable for playing the position of shadow forward. So why not put the duo together and play as a double striker?
So, how should Mount and Hudson-Odoi be placed? Playing in a 4-2-4 formation, the midfield is too weak, and there are already two players in the middle of the road, Werner and Lukaku, occupying space, and the whole parallel line will not appear to be enough space, after all, Mount and Hudson Hudson are not pure wingers with the following background.
Well, there is no doubt that in order to ensure control of the depth of the court, 4-2-2-2 is undoubtedly the best formation, Mount is a player with a forward attribute, in this position, Mount can be more inclined to move in the middle area, forming more contact with the two backs and two forwards; Hudoi can move more to the left area, pulling the width of the court; the right road corridor is left to Azpilicueta.
Chelsea's 4-2-2-2 system, although it is very irregular to operate, but it solves many of the problems encountered by the team at present, from an offensive point of view, two people who are slightly embarrassed in the front line will be revitalized in this system. And in this formation, the Chelsea players are relatively erratic, and it is difficult for the opponent to form a confrontation with Chelsea, which is not very good for defense.
In the face of such a great difficulty at Chelsea (both wing-backs were injured, and left wing-back Zilwell was reimbursed for the season), Tuchel was still able to overcome many difficulties, think of solutions, and most importantly, not only solve the shortage of manpower in the back line - the effect of playing three centre-backs is not as ideal as before, but also to create a new forwardcourt attack system, Tuchel's title of "tactical ghost", is indeed not in vain.
Whether the 4-2-2-2 tactics will become Chelsea's main tactics in the coming period, I don't know, when Chelsea can control the scene, this tactical system, obviously more reliable than the 5-2-3 tactical system, looks more reliable, because in the Premier League, it is too difficult to let Romelu Lukaku play a single arrow, playing double forwards, Lukaku is obviously much more at ease; but it is not clear that Chelsea's more three-dimensional position, defensive width is slightly insufficient formation, How did you perform against a super-first-class team that used rib space even better?
But in any case, Tuchel has fully demonstrated his tactical design skills to us, and Chelsea really did not pick the wrong person.