Chelsea remain unbeaten in the league this season and before this game Tottenham were undefeated in all competitions since September 1st. With the subtext surrounding Andre Villas Boas’ first game against his former club and club captain John Terry said to start his ban for racial abuse, the game was set to be a spectacle both on and off the pitch – and it certainly provided on the pitch.
The Line Ups
Chelsea lined up largely as was expected of them (a 4231) with a mobile and interchanging front three, with the one obvious change being Gary Cahill being introduced for suspended John Terry. For Spurs, both Moussa Dembele and Gareth Bale were unavailable after the international break and this largely dictated how Villas Boas set up to play Chelsea. A 433 was deployed by the Portuguese manager, with Sandro and Huddlestone primarily protecting the back four from the attacking threat of Chelsea, leaving the onus for creativity on summer signing Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Formation stifles Spurs
The big question before the game was whether Tottenham would be able to nullify Chelsea’s attacking threat. They boast the two leading assist providers in the league so far in Juan Mata and Eden Hazard and have scored 19 goals in their opening eight games, a stat only topped by Manchester United (21). It only seems natural that Villas Boas would deploy a more defensive minded midfield with both Sandro and Huddlestone capable of playing the ‘destroyer’ role in front of the Spurs back four. In an ideal world, it would also help allow Vertonghen and Walker the freedom to go forward and provide assistance in attacking – but in reality it didn’t work out that way. By playing with Huddlestone and Sandro, Tottenham did not have the on ball ability to dictate the game or even set up an effective counter attacking system.
This is emphasised by the fact that Jermaine Defoe only received 16 passes throughout the entire game, showing the English poacher was in isolation for much of the game. It is, obviously, a lose lose situation for Villas Boas; if he played a more attacking line up his side would most likely have been carved apart by Chelsea’s attack in an even more ruthless fashion than they were. If only he had a player who is well known for both providing a vital source creativity and being a strong, capable and disciplined defender to put into his side. Perhaps a £15m rated Belgian who used to play for Chelsea’s closest London rivals. However, without this, Chelsea were afforded too much freedom to attack as Tottenham were unable to piece any fluid play together themselves. On several occasions this afforded Ashley Cole (who was also superb against Aaron Lennon), Branislav Ivanovic and Ramires license to assist the attack and these numbers going forward were key to Chelsea’s unlocking of the Spurs defence.
Hazard, Mata and Oscar overcome another defence
I have touched on it before, but these three were again at their best throughout the game one again. Though it is easy to point the finger of blame on individual errors for the goals (be it Walker’s slip or Gallas’ poor header), that the three attacking midfielders are able to apply such high quality and sustained pressure is worthy of praise in itself. The intricate football inside the Tottenham area may have only lead to a corner before Gary Cahill’s opener – but that pressure is what make Chelsea so able to capitalise on lapses of concentration in opposition defences. The constant pressing and fluidity of their attack often causes further mayhem in opposition defences, with all three constantly rotating positions it makes it impossible for a defence to simply man mark a single player all game. Though far from the concept of ‘total football’, these three players seem to be able to apply a scaled down version to their three positions to great effect.
Juan Mata’s goal perfectly highlights the previous two statements in one elegant move. Below is an image just before Eden Hazard’s pass to the Spaniard. Firstly, Villas Boas made the change to a slightly more attacking midfield by bringing on Jake Livermore for one of his defensive midfielders, clearly looking to try and dominate possession. It is him, alongside the attacking Kyle Walker who allow Juan Mata to run and create the space for him to run into respectively. Furthermore, though Spurs were often able to get men behind the ball, this doesn’t substitute for good defending in most situations – as many  of the defensive players were caught ball watching – neither trying to win the ball back or concerning themselves with tracking the opposition. Six players form a hexagon of space around Eden Hazard as he plays the ball (highlighted in the image) whilst the two non highlighted Spurs players are also drifting towards the ball rather than looking at the impeding Spaniard.
The goal also helps demonstrate Chelsea’s attacking ability. Hazard, now coming in from the right hand side despite being initially deployed on the left, plays a delightful side splitting through ball to Juan Mata who has done the opposite positionally, all whilst Torres has shown his positional awareness by effectively dummying the ball to allow Juan Mata the space he required to finish the chance. It was a superb moment for the Chelsea players, and though Spurs weren’t entirely faultless in the phase of play, credit also has to go to the Chelsea attack.
Chelsea far from invincible
Impressive as they have been this season, the Blues are far from indestructible this term, with Tottenham almost capitalising on their weaknesses. Aptly demonstrated by Gallas in the second minute on the game, without Terry in the back line Chelsea were always susceptible to set pieces from Tottenham, with Gallas eventually fumbling home their first goal.
Their second goal also came from an oft made criticism of mine in regards to Chelsea. Because of how they play their 4231, there is often a lot of space in the wide areas when attacking them, especially on the counter attack. Though this was largely dealt with better than I have seen before by Cole and Ivanovic, the second goal came from no one aptly closing down Aaron Lennon on the right of the pitch before his shot/cross was turned in remarkably by Jermaine Defoe. Indeed, when going two one down against their London rivals many began to question whether they could recover.
Luckily for them, Tottenham’s only spell of cohesive attack did nothing to hide their defensive frailty. In fact, their ability to go forward and thus commit more men to the attack probably enhanced said frailty, allowing Chelsea to capitalise in the fashion that they did.
