Blind Hammer looks at some of the lessons from the Chelsea Defeat
The narrative emerging from the performance and defeat on Monday was that we encountered a side superb at lightning counter attacking football, and that we had to hold our hands up to acknowledge that Chelsea were top of the table for a reason.
Whilst this holds some merit, and the performance was a significant upgrade from the collapses against Manchester City, twice, and Arsenal, this does reflect some unwarranted complacency.
The fact is that we have been susceptible to the point of fragility to attack on the break all season. Whilst it is convincing to talk about our exposure to the skills of mega stars at the top of their form like Hazard, this obscures our propensity to display this weakness against far less potent opponents.
Those of you who attended our home game against Hull will remember that we were undeniably fortunate to win on the day. How time after time Hull exposed us on the break. It appeared that Hull was at their most potent when defending a corner against us. It was only poor finishing from Hull and the woodwork on two occasions which prevented us from suffering an embarrassing defeat. I still regard that as the pivotal game in our season, helping to arrest a slide in confidence which could have had dire consequences. Such are the narrow margins of success and failure in football.
There are 2 characteristics of our weakness on the break. The first is our propensity to surrender possession unnecessarily in advanced positions, leaving us exposed to the counter. The other is when we are loading our attack with defenders to support either a corner or a free kick.
In both situations the loss of possession in an advanced position has resulted in a frantic chase back, with sometimes outnumbered defenders attempting vainly to repel an effort on goal.
The last ditch tackle is an important part of football drama, but should really not become a standard feature of our defending. It should be preserved for when we are chasing a game, and having to over commit, rather than a first line of defence.
How to remedy this is obviously a mixture of personnel and organisation.
A structural weakness in our team this season is how we have taken two of our most potent performers, able to influence a game whilst we are in possession, and transform them into ordinary or even mediocre right backs. The failed experiment of using first Antonio and now Cheikhou Kouyaté at right back suffers from two consequences. Both are weak and likely to be targeted as defenders, but more importantly their skills at dominating possession are wasted as they are withdrawn from roles which allow their strengths to prosper. The nettle of dropping Noble to the bench needs to be grasped. If Obiang etc. lack Noble’s match reading and organisation they need to step up an acquire it. Other performers at right back like Håvard Nordtveit also do not meet Premiership standard.
In the most competitive league in the world fudging 25% of our defensive team with makeshift substandard performers is simply not supportable. If Byram is not up to the job this should have been sorted in January.
The other issue with personnel is the need for pace. The recruitment of Fonte was probably sound but we were definitely not investing in youth and more importantly speed. We need to ensure that our right back at least has powers of recovery and can hare back with the best athletes in the league.
The final issue is one of team organisation generally and defensive organisation in particular. It was hoped that Fonte would provide some defensive experience to aid organisation but this is clearly a work in progress. It may be that we must surrender both Reid and Fonte advancing for a corner unless we are chasing a game.
Against the best in the league, for example our upcoming games against Liverpool and Tottenham; we need to make a plan to remedy our weakness on the break.
We need to maximise our midfield strength and have the game awareness not to surrender possession in dangerous situations. We may have to have a more cautious approach at corners and free kicks. The problem is obvious to see, whatever the solution is will be the challenge for Bilic and his coaching team to address.
COYI
David Griffith