Chelsea FC – What Jose Mourinho’s Tactical Gamble Against Norwich City Told Us

By Karan Yadav
11 years Ago

After Chelsea FC had managed to accrue their first points on the road in the Premier League, Jose Mourinho was asked to speak about the game-changing substitutions that he’d made on route to a fine win at Carrow Road, which could quite possibly have been another debilitating draw or perhaps even a defeat. He responded, “If they come on and change the game, the manager did very well. If they make it worse, it’s a very bad decision. But we had to risk a bit to try and see if Norwich could cope. A point here would be a bad result for us. We played with three at the back, SchA?rrle open, Eden [Hazard] central, and lost a bit of balance, and we left the road a bit open for them too. If they’d scored a second goal we’d probably lose. But we’re trying to be top.“

An impressive start to the game had again given way to some poor finishing, loss in intensity and thereby focus to see Norwich claw their way back into the game to draw level with 68 minutes on the clock. The game had a draw written all over it, as had happened when the West London club had last visited Carrow Road in January, 2012. That day the club had created an awful lot of chances only to squander all opportunities to score, leaving empty handed with goal-less draw.

In the recent past, fans and experts have come to expect very little tactical change from Chelsea midway through the game. At least that has been the case more often than not. Often, in a like-for-like replacement, a fresh attacking player (s) is brought on to influence proceedings and carve out a win by virtue of his individual brilliance. With drastic, sweeping changes not expected and with 25 minutes left to play, observers were waiting for Mourinho to call upon Hazard or Willian or both from the bench in place of Schurrle and Mata/Oscar to slot into the same 4-2-3-1 shape that had pretty much defined Chelsea ever since the 4-3-3 system was left behind by Roberto di Matteo in the iconic victory against Napoli in the Champions League-winning season of 2011-12.

People, however, had overlooked one fact. Jose is unlike other managers. Six years away from England, an average start to the season and the controversies that he creates along the way had made people forget that he’s the same man who has been revered as much for his man-management skills as for his tactical acumen throughout his career. From conducting practice sessions with 10 men at Porto to prepare for a red card to moving Michael Essien to right-back at Chelsea, from deploying Samuel Eto’o at left-back in a 10-man Inter side fighting against all odds to prevail over Barcelona to forging a breathtakingly quick counter-attacking machine at Real Madrid for nullifying arguably the best team in the history of club football at retaining possession, Jose Mourinho has always changed systems and formations depending on the job at hand.

With the game against Norwich slipping away from Chelsea’s grasps, he withdrew Ashley Cole of all people and replaced him with Eden Hazard. Previously also, he had withdrawn a full-back but on those occasions, he’d retained four at the back when he brought on Cesar Azpilicueta for a midfielder or an attacking player, moving Ivanovic into central defence and David Luiz into midfield. With this substitution against Norwich, to everyone’s surprise, he deployed a three man defence comprising of Ivanovic, Terry and Luiz, and deputized Schurrle and Ramires at left and right wingback respectively. Although many clubs have in the past and still continue to use a three-man backline, this system is rare at Chelsea. It has been theoretically spoken of but rarely deployed.

Two of Chelsea’s three defenders, Ivanovic and Luiz, are versatile enough to slot in at fullbacks, so on paper, they were a good bet to play in a three-man defence. In central midfield, Oscar dropped deep to join Frank Lampard, while the tricky Hazard was unleashed on the tiring Norwich defenders. He and then Willian, who came on for Mata after a few minutes of the first change, joined Samuel Eto’o in attack, forming a three-pronged attack and shape of the team resembled a loose 3-4-3 formation.

Both Hazard and Willian remained slightly central than playing out wide, thus leaving Chelsea’s wings far exposed with Schurrle and Ramires (both out of position anyway) being the only line of defence. Spotting an opening, Norwich brought on Nathan Redmond in place of Robert Snodgrass and the talented winger immediately started stretching Chelsea to the brink, especially on the left flank. Chelsea’s flanks were now the carrots that were enticing Norwich to focus on and attack from the wings, putting pressure on the three central defenders. Chelsea wanted to win this game at any cost, even at the risk of losing the game so this change actually played into their hands. With Norwich committing men forward and attacking from the flanks, not only did it open the game for Chelsea but it also left space in central midfield for the West London team to capitalize on during counters.

From a Norwich corner, Willian quickly cleared the ball towards Oscar, who in turn played a through ball which eventually led to Hazard’s goal. That was game, set and match for Chelsea. The finishing touches were applied by Willian, who was making his Premier League debut, as he scored off a beautiful left-footed strike from 25 yards in the 86th minute, leaving the goalkeeper absolutely stunned. It was a gamble that paid off for Jose Mourinho.

The manager was able to make such a bold move while chasing the game primarily because of the presence of two players.Ai??In both Ramires and Schurrle, Chelsea have two footballers who have a remarkable engine; they tirelessly ran the length of the pitch, covering a lot of ground to serve the team’s cause. It’s still early days to truly gauge the effectiveness of such a system at Chelsea and for now it remains an option for the manager to implement whenever he has to throw the kitchen sink at opponents while chasing a game. The move could have surely backfired and Mourinho might not also take such a risk against better opponents, but that substitution (Cole OFF, Hazard ON) in the 75th minute came as a breath of fresh air.

If not anything else, that move served as a reminder that Chelsea are being managed by a man who would not shy away from making all three changes at the break if that’s the need of the hour, who would not stick to the only formation that he is comfortable in and on the contrary, would tweak his tactics based on the situation at hand and the players available at his disposal, and finally, they are being managed by a man, who would not only get the best out of his players but would also make their football dynamic again.

Categories: Chelsea FC, English Premier League, Features
Tags: Chelsea FC Jose Mourinho Tactics

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