Chelsea scored 32 goals this season in the league and they are the 3rd team to score the most goals. Lampard uses different players in his line up. He has a lot of different players who have different styles. They play with 4-3-3 line up. In set attacks, line up changes with like a 2-1-4-3.
Chelsea’s goalkeeper is Mendy. He can make game from behind. Not like Neuer but he is not bad. But also he needs great stoppers to make game from behind and in Chelsea, they haven’t. Thiago Silva is a great stopper about making game but they need one more great stopper about making game. Because of that, Chelsea doesn’t try to make game from behind much.
In set attacks, stoppers try to make connections with full backs or defensive midfielder. Zouma can’t do it very well but Silva can do it. Silva can pass to his teammates directly. So usually Zouma passes to Silva and Silva makes game. If Silva can’t make game and Kante is in under pressure, Kante takes position in centre and Kovacic closes to centre midfield and helps to make game. If still they can’t make game, Kovacic will be the 3rd stopper in the right and Kante stays in centre midfield. With that positioning, Kante pulls the opponent’s centre midfielders and Kovacic can find more space in back.
If Silva doesn’t play, this time they haven’t a leader in defense line’s centre and they can’t make game from behind comfortably. Christensen is good about making game but he is not a leader.
Kante is the team’s regista but his making game ability is not well like Kovacic. Kante can make game great but in under pressure he needs one more player. And this player is Kovacic. Mount helps him too about making game but he usually takes position more close to forward.
Sometimes Kante moves with the ball directly to the forward. In this situation, one of Kovacic or Mount has to close to midfield’s back and be like a regista. Because when Kante moves, he wants to pass to one player and this player can be Kovacic or Mount. But when he moves, he also closes to the opponent’s defense players. And if Kovacic and Mount still stay in their positions, Kante can’t pass to them because the opponent’s players can cut their connections between them.
Kante, Kovacic and Mount make a triangle between us. And when Kante moves forward and Kovacic and Mount stays, Kante’s passing angle increases but Mount’s and Kovacic’s angles of accept passing decrease. It’s a basic rule for triangles. So it means, if Kante wants to pass to one of them, he can’t pass to one of them. His passing angle becomes more but to pass to someone, also pass accepting have to have great angle to take the ball. Angles have to have balance. So the opponent’s player’s possibility to cut that triangle’s connections increases. And if the opponent’s player can take the ball, the opponent can play directly to score goal with transition attack because now the distance between Kante and stoppers is too much and the opponent’s players can use this free space.
If Jorginho plays instead of Kante in regista role, Lampard uses Kante in the right centre midfielder position. They can make game more comfortably with Jorginho. If Jorginho can’t find enough space to make game, he closes to the stoppers and will be the 3rd stopper on right or left. If he takes position on right, Kante stays in the midfield and Mount closes to him from left to help him about making game. And because Kante stays in the midfield, the opponent’s midfield line’s left focus on Kante. And Jorginho finds more space because of that. If Jorginho takes position on left, Kante closes to midfield’s centre. Mount closes to him again but this time Jorginho and Mount in the same area so both can’t find enough space.
Sometimes Jorginho is the 3rd stopper in centre stopper position but this positioning doesn’t help to Chelsea about making game because in this positioning, right and left stoppers have to use wings to help Jorginho about making game. Or they can’t use pitch’s all width and no one can find enough space. And this time, they can’t make game. Zouma can’t make game so he can’t use right wing to make game. Thiago Silva can make game but to make game from left wing, he has to use his left foot and his dominant foot is his right foot so he can’t be very effective from left.
To make game from left, the left stopper’s dominant foot has to be his left foot or he has to use his left foot very well. It’s all about the passing angle. Let’s think a situation. The left stopper wants to pass to the left back. Now he can pass to the left back with 2 different ways: he can pass to him with his right foot or left foot. And let’s say the opponent’s right winger takes position close to the left back and he wants to take the ball before left back. If the left stopper uses his right foot to pass to the left back, the ball’s direction will be more close to the opponent’s right winger. It means the right winger can take the ball before the left back. If the left stopper uses his left foot, the ball’s direction will be further than the opponent’s right winger. It means the opponent’s right winger can’t take the ball easily like the first passing situation. This time passing angle is further away from the opponent’s right winger.
Kovacic plays in the box-to-box role. He helps his teammates about make game from behind. Also he supports forwards from right half-space but he doesn’t try to create space for himself. He passes to his teammates to their score goal but he doesn’t run to the penalty box to score goal himself. He stays close to the forward line.
Mount plays in the box-to-box role like Kovacic but Mount plays more close to the forward from left half-space and plays like a number 10. He helps Kante about making game like Kovacic but usually he takes position more close to forward. He usually isn’t the 3rd stopper to make game from behind. He moves coordinately to Werner.
Full backs do the same thing. Both have great attacking abilities. They support attacks from wings all the time. If Azpilicueta plays instead of James, their attacking effectiveness will be less but the team has more balance.
Ziyech takes position more close to centre. He plays like a game maker. If he takes position in the right wing and takes the ball, he runs to centre to make game or crosses to the penalty box. He doesn’t run to the penalty box or he doesn’t try to escape the opponent’s behind. So James can run from the right wing more comfortably because Ziyech creates space for him in the right wing. The only problem is both Ziyech and Kovacic don’t run to the penalty box. It means there are 2 players who make game and create goal chances in the right wing and right half-space. So they share the same space and it decreases effectiveness of both.
If Havertz plays instead of Ziyech, the playing role doesn’t change much. The only difference is Havertz plays like an offensive midfielder. Ziyech uses right wing too but Havertz usually takes position in the offensive midfielder position. If Pulisic plays instead of Ziyech, Kovacic have more space in right half-space. If Hudson-Odoi plays instead of Ziyech, Kovacic has all space in right half-space because Hudson-Odoi uses right wing much. But this time James can’t support attacks from the right wing effectively.
Werner takes position coordinately to Mount. Werner usually tries to escape the opponent’s behind from the left wing, left half-space or Abraham’s beside. If he tries to escape the opponent’s behind from left wing, Chilwell can’t support attacks well from the left wing but Mount can use left half-space well, be like a 4th forward and he can run to the penalty box. If Werner tries to escape the opponent’s behind from left half-space, Chilwell can use the left wing effectively to support attack. This time Mount can’t run to the penalty box but he can use left half-space to take the ball and make game. If Werner comes beside Abraham, Chilwell can use left wing effectively and Mount can use left half-space to run to the penalty box or take the ball and make game.
If Pulisic plays instead of Werner, Abraham has more space in centre. Pulisic’s dribbling ability is great so he can be effective in 1 vs 1 positions against the opponent’s full back. Pulisic moves more freely than Werner. He and Mount can change their positions amongst themselves coordinately. Also Pulisic closes to Abraham’s behind to take the ball.
Abraham tries to escape the opponent’s behind. He doesn’t try to close to midfield, pull the opponent’s stopper, create space for his teammates and make connections. Sometimes he tries to do but he is not great about that. If Werner comes beside him, this time both tries to escape the opponent’s beside and the opponent’s stoppers can control both because both do the same thing. If one of them closes to midfield, pulls the opponent’s stopper and the other one runs from the stopper’s behind to use free space, this time they can confuse the opponent’s mind and be more effective.
This is the attacking positioning of Chelsea with Voronoi diagram. This diagram is important to understand how Abraham can use or can’t use his space and how it affects the team’s making game abilities. Chelsea hasn’t an offensive midfielder in the team’s line up. And this time, as you see in Voronoi diagram, the centre forward has this space. So the centre forward has to use this space. To use this space, he should close to midfield in the false 9 role or target man role. If he can use this space, as you can see in Voronoi diagram, he can make connection with all the midfield and forward players. So he can make connection between forward and midfield line. But in Chelsea, Abraham can’t play in the false 9 or target man role so they can’t use this space. And because of that, they can’t make connection between midfield and forward from centre.
If Giroud plays instead of Abraham, they can make connection between midfield and forward from centre. Giroud can be a great pass station for his teammates and he can create space for wingers. If Giroud plays, Werner can be more effective with his runs from left wing to centre. Also they can use Giroud to make game from behind with long balls. If Werner plays instead of Abraham, this time they can’t use Werner to make connection but he uses wings and Ziyech can find more space in centre and they can make connection from Ziyech.
Lastly, all forward players have permission to move freely. So they change their positions amongst themselves and with right and left centre midfielders.
In crosses, forwards can change their positions amongst themselves. Werner runs to Abraham’s beside or the opponent’s right back’s behind. Ziyech usually runs from between the opponent’s left back and left stopper. Mount runs to the penalty box from left half-space. Kovacic waits in the penalty box’s front. Kante takes position more close to the stoppers. Full backs usually don’t run to the penalty box. They wait in the penalty box’s front. If the cross comes from the right wing, the left back waits in the penalty box’s front and more close to left. If the cross comes from the left wing, the right back waits in the penalty box’s front and more close to right.
If Hudson-Odoi plays instead of Ziyech, he usually runs from the opponent’s left back’s behind. If Mount doesn’t play, it means they haven’t a midfielder who runs to the penalty box.
In transition attacks, they try to use Werner. Werner tries to escape the opponent’s behind. If Abraham plays, Werner can’t be very effective because Abraham tries to escape the opponent’s behind, too. So the opponent’s defense line can control both. If Giroud plays, Giroud pulls the opponent’s stopper and Werner can escape his behind and uses free space. The other forward players don’t move all the time from the same way. For example, if Ziyech closes to centre to take the ball, Pulisic runs to the opponent’s behind. Or the exact opposite. Mount supports transition attacks too. One of the full back, whose in the opposite wing, supports the attack quickly. So they can pass the ball to him and when he takes the ball in the opposite wing, the opponent’s mind confuses because now they have to cover the other wing.