Chelsea's change of style
- Published
Chelsea are set to implement a new, slower and possession-based style of football under Enzo Maresca.
This has already been apparent in the club's pre-season tour of the US and it demands players adapt to the manager's approach, rather than him adapt to his players.
It has meant teams on tour, like Manchester City and Celtic, have been able to force mistakes as players struggle to adapt to high-risk moves playing out from the back.
In fact, half of the 12 goals conceded in pre-season were from mistakes playing out from the back, including three of the four against City.
There are also problems with the players naturally defaulting to a high defensive line without pressing well or with intensity, a feature of the play Maresca blames on "habit from last year".
Other features of the tactics are underlapping full-backs, man-to-man marking and two very high number eights occupying spaces in a five-man attack.
The high risk, high reward style carries the same core principles evident in the Italian's Championship title-winning Leicester team last season.
Interestingly, these principles are supposed to be implemented across the club and into BlueCo with RC Strasbourg - maintained even if there is a need to change the manager again in the future.
One of the reasons Mauricio Pochettino left by mutual consent was due to a difference in opinion on the club's long-term tactical identity.