Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham team have been a thorn in the side of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, and his Chelsea side have also proved a nuisance this season.
After a 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge which saw City destabilized defensively, Pochettino has made solid claims of winning the tactical battle in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against the Etihad.
Chelsea sliced through the Treble winner on the counter-attack with alarming ease, even though City can point to a hat-trick of missed chances from Erling Haaland.
Pochettino will be encouraged by his team’s performance, which bodes well for next Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Liverpool at Wembley.
The result means Liverpool and Arsenal gain ground on City in the Premier League title race. Telegraph Sport analyzes how Chelsea produced one of their most creditable games of the season.
We continue with Thiago Silva
Pochettino left Thiago Silva on the bench for Chelsea’s impressive FA Cup win at Aston Villa, and here was further evidence that Chelsea might be better off without their 39-year-old centre-back.
Silva is one of the best defenders of his generation, but in the autumn of his career he likes to lose weight and see the game in front of him.
This poses a problem for Pochettino, whose best teams are built on aggressive pressing from the front. For this approach to possession to be effective, your centre-backs must squeeze up the pitch to prevent the team’s units from tearing apart.
With Silva ruled out due to injury, Pochettino paired Axel Disasi with Levi Colwill. Given the way City monopolize the ball, this was never going to be a match where Chelsea’s defense could play high on their own, but their shape was certainly more compact than we’ve seen in some of their lower moments this season. Their back four remained linked with midfielders Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, rather than leaving them on an island.
Occasionally a manager’s absence due to injury can stumble in picking the right team, and this may have been one such case for Chelsea.
City unusually top heavy
Guardiola values control and dominance from the center of the pitch, so it was strange to see City’s shape sometimes resemble a 4-2-4 when they attacked, with the full-backs staying wide.
Choosing a team with Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku was a statement of intent, but in effect meant City played with four strikers. Because Kevin De Bruyne also played high, Rodri remained the only orthodox midfielder. Situationally, Manuel Akanji or Alvarez were paired alongside him, but neither is a specialist midfielder.
“Our rhythm was not good,” Guardiola said. “You have to play ninety minutes at top level, and we only did that for one half.”
City’s ‘rhythm’ usually comes from the way they circulate the ball, and they looked like a team missing a Bernardo Silva or Ilkay Gundogan figure as the glue between Rodri and De Bruyne. If it was an attempt to blow Chelsea off the pitch with firepower, it failed.
Much to the frustration of some City fans, Guardiola also decided to use Foden wide on the right with Alavrez in the pocket, and both players struggled to influence play during the first half.
Manchester City (lighter blue) average positions versus Chelsea
Chelsea’s pace showcases City’s fluid backline
Nicolas Jackson and Raheem Sterling repeatedly found themselves on the shoulder of City’s defense, opposite the green grass, while their teammates had time on the ball.
When City build up play, Guardiola is keen for one of his back four to line up alongside Rodri and form a 3-2 shape. Earlier in his City reign that player was a full-back, like Joao Cancelo or Oleksandr Zinchenko, while last season it was John Stones at centre-back. At times when City switch between forms, they can be vulnerable.
Against Chelsea, Akanji replaced the Stones’ role and he is not as flexible as the Englishman (there is no defender on this particular assignment).
With Akanji in midfield, Ruben Dias is left as the sole centre-back manning the heart of the City defence, with Kyle Walker wider to the right and Nathan Aké to the left. Dias endured a tough game in the return leg at Stamford Bridge, conceding a penalty, and found it difficult to deal with Chelsea’s central running force of Conor Gallagher and Jackson.
Gallagher had the motor to break down City’s midfield and join the forward line as City had bodies pushing forward. Jackson’s ball-carrying created Chelsea’s goal, scored by Sterling, and he was a constant threat. Chelsea looked to exploit Doku’s defensive capabilities and focused most of their attacks along the right flank.
Chelsea’s attacking third against Man City
Chelsea’s outstanding individuals: Gallagher, Gusto and Disasi
Gallagher was excellent in midfield and showed exactly why Chelsea fans don’t want to see him sold, especially to Spurs. He was one of the few Chelsea players to fully maintain the pace as City turned the screw in the final 20 minutes, having been tasked with shadowing Rodri and blocking passing lanes to the Spaniard throughout the match.
Gusto had a difficult task against Doku, but excelled in one-on-one combat. Doku completed just three of seven take-ons, while no player won more tackles than Gusto’s five. Reece James’ ongoing injury problems are testing Chelsea’s right-back capabilities, but they appear to have found a promising player in Gusto.
Chelsea’s outstanding defender, however, was Disasi, who celebrated the fouls in the first half. The Frenchman scored a total of seventeen goals, the most of any Chelsea player in a Premier League match in eight years. Gusto took the second highest place in the competition with eight.
Disasi was erratic in his first season in England but relished the back-to-the-wall defensive test that this match became.