Chelsea: Defensive changes are paying off for Antonio Conte

Chelsea have now notched two successive Premier League wins after being embarrassed by Arsenal. Due, in the main, to the recent tactical adjustments by Blues boss Antonio Conte.

Chelsea defeated Leicester City in routine fashion on Saturday in one of the matches of the Premier League weekend. Once again, tactical changes made by Antonio Conte proved pivotal to Chelsea achieving the win.

Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and Victor Moses scored for the hosts and left Leicester point-starved in the fourth consecutive away match this season. Claudio Ranieri benched the Algerian duo of Islam Slimani and Riyad Mahrez. Their replacements, Ahmed Musa and Jeffrey Schlupp, failed to make any impact on the team.

Conversely, Conte’s tactical adjustments, which he first introduced against Hull City in the previous game, fully paid off. After a 3-0 defeat in the London derby against Arsenal, it was clear that Conte had to change something in his defensive setup.

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The biggest fault for the trashing the Blues suffered against the Gunners rested on the shoulders of Gary Cahill. Another flaw against both Liverpool and Arsenal, was Chelsea’s inability to defend from blitz counter-attacks.

The gaps between the Blues’ defensive and midfield lines were massive. Both Arsenal and Liverpool created confusion with their runs and passes through Chelsea’s midfield block – or what their midfield block should have been.

Hazard and Willian are not in the best of form right now, and they are not pressing the opponent’s lines like they did in the past. Cesc Fabregas’ dip in form is so vast that he isn’t even a shadow of the player who was the cornerstone in Mourinho’s title-winning campaign two years ago. Whilst Branislav Ivanovic and Cahill are not getting any younger.

Conte makes the necessary adjustments

Against Hull, Conte made radical changes. Moving away from the typical formation for Serie A teams, 4-5-1, Conte made the switch to a modified 3-4-3 formation. A move he then repeated against Leicester. Five goals scored, two clean sheets and two wins later, his bold move has worked.

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Instead of playing with a classic four at the back, Conte is now playing with three at the back and two wing backs. Marcos Alonso flourished in a wing back role at Fiorentina previously, so his rock-solid performances were to be expected. But Victor Moses has showcased his amazing work rate and adaptability to a completely different role and surprised everybody.

By introducing wing backs instead of classic full backs, Conte moved his last line of defense away from his goal. He practically shortened the playing field and made manoeuvring much harder for the opponents.

Meanwhile, Ivanovic has been left out of the team, and Cahill has taken the left center-back position. Cesar Azpilicueta played on the right side of the defense. David Luiz retained a place at the heart of the back-three.

Luiz was promoted to commander of Chelsea’s defense. The Brazil international likes to be in the spotlight. His reactions can light a fire under the crowd and his teammates and it is clear Conte trusts him. That trust has certainly paid off for Chelsea in the last two matches.

Conte reinforced both flanks with Hazard and Willian (who was replaced by Pedro in the match against Leicester), so Matic and Kante had more help than in the previous matches, and they both did an excellent job, too.

Cahill is the weakest spot in the new Chelsea setup. Conte has perhaps made a mistake putting him in front of Ivanovic – the player with the most caps for Chelsea during the last couple of years. However, when Kurt Zouma recovers from injury, it is expected that he will replace Cahill in the starting lineup.

If Conte sticks to this playing style in the future, he will have to neutralize the two potentially weak spots: Cahill and Moses. Moses played spectacularly well against Hull and Leicester, including scoring a goal.

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However, he is playing in a position previously completely alien to him. It is not expected that he will be at the highest level in every match. Cahill is clearly not in his best form and he isn’t among the fastest players in the team, so Alonso and Kante will have to help him a lot if he continues to play.

On the other hand, this current system is already much better than the previous one. Chelsea should make their way back into the battle for the top very soon.

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