Poor Neil Dejyothin. We bully him into writing a weekly tactics column for LFW, it’s well received in its first week and then for week two QPR serve up a 6-1 annihilation at Stamford Bridge. So where did it all go wrong?
Nothing went well really. We were incredibly naive from start to finish and didn't do any of the basics I mentioned in last week’s article.
Nobody picked up Michael Essien at the base of their midfield, which is where they like to control matches and can dicate play from that area of the pitch. Bobby Zamora never got close to him once and in fact, never got close to anybody. He didn't mark John Terry or Bosingwa either, so I'm not sure what his defensive role or responsibilities actually were?
But this all led to our trio in midfield having to advance off their positions to try and engage with Essien and the other Chelsea midfielders higher up the pitch and they just played those quick mechanical give and go's, and popped the ball in and around us with embarrassing ease. I think this was a tactical mistake by Mark Hughes, it's easy to think that putting Zamora on him would nullify any attacking threat, but that's what was needed and would have allowed Cissé, Mackie or a midfielder to break from deep and beyond him.
Letting them get in behind was the main problem and it also allowed them to get on the ball in central areas of the pitch and just of the wides and made it very easy from those areas to find through balls or have players make supporting runs from deep or diagonal runs across defenders, which causes chaos. We did a real poor job of tracking men all day and that's vital against a side like Chelsea who often penetrate from deeper areas and look to arrive late on the end of things. You can't afford to allow players like Juan Mata with time and space in the pocket between defence and midfield, and we let them run riot in there.
I also spoke about the need to be careful and tidy in possession in the centre of the pitch, this would be crucial for us and we made an unforced error straight away when Shaun Derry gifted them the ball. And the rest was history as they punished us for that lack of concentration and carelessness we showed and we never recovered. Some of our defending was pretty comical again too.
Then of course, we just didn't deal with the conditions very well and seemed surprised any time the ball reacted in a way you wouldn't ordinarily expect it to. Chelsea had some problems with it as well, but they eventually adapted to it and took advantage.
Bobby Zamora did very little defensively for the team on Sunday. He barely engaged the centre halves and allowed them to work the ball into Essien at the base of the Chelsea midfield. Because Zamora then ignored Essien the Ghanaian was left with a huge space in which to work and pick his pass. To combat this Buzsaky and Barton were often drawn forward leaving further spaces behind them in the left and right channels for Kalou and Sturridge to exploit. Shaun Derry couldn’t possibly be expected to fight those fires as well as deal with Mata.
Had Zamora been detailed to drop deeper and work harder, engaging Essien and preventing him having the time and space to dictate the game from the base of the Chelsea midfield, then Rangers could have maintained a tighter, deeper, midfield three which would have stood a better chance against Lampard, Mata, Kalou and Sturridge.
Cissé didn't work on the left because we didn't play him in the way that we should have from there. He needed to come in field and join Bobby Zamora at particular moments, but he never really did. He actually got on the ball a little bit early doors and it looked like we might be able to produce something of interest, but it never worked for him and he didn't really look very comfortable out there either, or that he wanted to be there too.
Jamie Mackie started to join Zamora after a while, but by then it was too little too late as the game was already long lost by then and done without any cohesion or balance.
Once we decided that Zamora wasn't going to pick up Essien, or anybody, then really when it was obvious our midfield was being overrun we needed both Mackie and Cissé to tuck in and become more narrow, but we never did that once and remained stretched and wide open.
This in turn didn't help the likes of Akos Buzsaky, Shaun Derry or Joey Barton in the midfield, who were running around like rabbits in the headlights. Buzsaky is technically capable of competing in these sorts of games, useful for when you want to slow things down and go through the motions, but we never got anywhere near close to being able to do that because of the way we set up and played.
The Chelsea match is history now and one to forget, the manner of the defeat was desperately disappointing, but at the same time, we were always going to be thrilled to take anything away from there.
We need to be brave against Stoke and play in a certain way and that means trusting in our ability to pass and move with good tempo and pace. This requires more patience than normal and not to just hoof the ball forwards after a few passes if nothing is on, which is a bad trait of ours and something we did to horrendous consequences against Chelsea.
If we can keep the ball on the floor and reduce the amount of free-kicks and throw-ins for both sides then we have a chance to keep the ball in open play for longer periods, which is to our strength and away from theirs. We played a great game against them at The Britannia, so we need more of the same here.
The trick to dealing with them is in our full back positions and ensuring those guys win their duals with the wingers they're up against. If we can steal the ball of Jermaine Pennant and Matthew Etherington, the next step is to play the ball on the inside and sweep up the pitch in waves. The ball needs to travel square first, maybe two times before advancing forward and repeated so that each unit can move forward in unison.
Samba Diakité could be key to this as well, because he's the one player who can operate between the lines and away from a rigid structure by the way he dribbles with the ball, and we might need that if Zamora doesn't win his physical battle with Ryan Shawcross and Robert Huth. But if we can get the ball in that area and find quick snappy passes, then we've a chance of opening them up, but if we just lump it forward like we're prone to doing sometimes we'll play straight into their hands.
They will always pose a threat and ask you questions though, so we need to be mindful of our defensive shape whenever we don't have the ball and force the play in a way that it goes to players who we're more happy for them to have it. Usually long direct balls are more easier to deal with when they come straight in, rather from a diagonally deep position, so let the centre back pairing have the ball and let them pump it forward from central area, rather than full-backs, wide men, or centre backs from wide positions.
If that ball does travel in towards Peter Crouch, you've got to ensure he's not taking the ball at an angle and across a defender, as that gives him more chance to get it successfully under control. If he does however, a defensive midfielder also needs to press him very quickly from the other side of the centre back, to ensure we force him to play backwards.
They've not really got the pace in behind to hurt us if we can deal with their wide threats, whereas we've got the pace to hurt them in central and wide areas. We probably need pull backs or crosses drilled across the face for this one, because they're a big side obviously and could end up mopping up lofted crosses all day long - but similarly we need to lurk on the edge or just outside the box to be ready for any clearances they make.
It's a must win game, needless to say.
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