Chelsea vs Leeds Tactical Review:

– How Leeds' system caused us trouble
– Lamps' tweaks to outmanuever Bielsa

Disclaimer: All footage used is for educational purposes only. All copyrights belong to the Premier League

Leeds always provide a stern challenge. Their high tempo, quick passing, relentless pressing and powerful runners pose a variety of positional and structural headaches. Bielsa knew that our full backs going high were crucial to our attack, and he targeted them in particular.

Leeds are very fluid in transition. Vs us, they cycled between a 4-4-1-1 in attack and 4-1-4-1 in defence. In attack, Klich drifted to either wing, making it 3 on the wing (full back, wide mid, Klich.) This forced our 8s and wingers to drop, to prevent a 3 on 2 vs Chilly/James.

Here's how Leeds work that 3 to their advantage. One of their players pulls the full back out wide. Another runs into the space between CB and FB while the third offers support. Bamford is decent in the air; but he had little to no chance of a headed goal vs Silva/Zouma.

Heres the move. Alioski, Harrison, Klich are on left wing vs James, Ziyech, Kai. Harrison drags Reece out, and Alioski confuses Kai and Ziyech from tracking Klich's run to the line. Bamford is behind Zouma at first, but he ghosts in superbly to shoot. Movement is Bamford's forte.

Last move, Klich was left; this time he causes problems on the right. Dallas offers a central passing option to the right sided players – Ayling, Raphinha. Klich joins in on the right, finds Dallas with a pass, who plays in Raphinha. Mount, Werner and Chilwell all fail to track.

In defence, only Bamford stays up front, looking to use his pace and movement to get in behind. Kalvin Phillips becomes the screen in front of the defence. Here, as Mount gets the ball, Phillips immediately pressures Kai into going back.

Lamps had two options as a game plan: Sit back like Leicester/Palace (both won 4-1 vs Leeds) and counter with speed, or match the press and crank up pressure. We chose the latter, and initially, it proves right. Leeds struggle to cope with our press and commit numerous errors.

Unfortunately, these three factors make us concede. We press high; James is at RW and Ziyech is at CF. Leeds recover the ball and target Reece's space. Neither Kai, Ziyech or James can track Phillips before he passes. Mendy's error, but fantastic speed and movement from Bamford.

So if Leeds were doing so well, how did we turn it around? Leeds' biggest mistake was they couldn't inflict midfield pressure. A key strength for Bielsa is being able to win the ball in midfield and counter, but we cycled our 3 atb with Zouma, Silva, James, Kante, Mount and Kai.

Here, you can see Bamford trying to press our CBs (especially Zouma), and their other forward (Klich) trying to pressurize a passing option. But an extra man kept dropping to make it 3atb, and one of our players was able to easily carry the ball into midfield.

Another instance how we kept escaping pressure by drawing players and passing it into space. Klich furiously presses Silva, and Zouma is able to stroll towards midfield. Just as Bamford looks to press, he passes it to Giroud who holds it up long enough for Kante to find space.

Zouma, Silva, James are 3 atb here. Harrison, Bamford, Klich all press high. Kai drops, dragging his marker out, before finding space to recieve. Ziyech also draws 2 players before releasing James into space, whose cross is converted. PS: note Kai's positioning from start to end.

Despite losing their lead, Leeds keep coming. Klich again drifts right; Raphinha stretches play and Ayling runs between Chilwell and Silva. Silva steps up to block. You can see Zouma (top left) keeping a keen eye on Bamford's movement, and Kante tracking Klich for the cutback.

The first warning sign for Bielsa came here. Leeds just stood off. Whether it was exhaustion or demotivation, no one knows. Bamford and Klich kept dropping deeper and it allowed Silva to venture high. (note that Kante is nowhere to be seen, he has probably slotted in for Silva.

Two prominent things to note. Leeds kept throwing wide men forward, which left them vulnerable to counters out wide. Timo exploits this by bursting on the flank. Kai's run though is the real highlight. 100% sure passes will find him soon when he storms into the box undetected.

Second half, and Lampard now has many calls to make. Kai is clearly struggling because of fitness issues. Does he come off or give him a chance to redeem himself? And how to stop the dangerous half-space runs vs the full backs and giving up too much space in behind?

Lamps makes two strong calls. First, he keeps Kai on, demanding a little character from him even in difficult physical conditioning. Second, he asks Reece to sit deeper, killing space in behind. Here's Reece James' heat maps from his recent games. Last one is vs Leeds.

First counter in the 2nd half. When Pulisic moves left, you can see Reece standing his ground. However, as soon as Werner drifts center to pull Alioski in, Reece makes a dash for the space behind. 21 today @reecejames_24, but his intelligence and instincts are already blossoming.

Despite James staying deep, Leeds again try their trademark 3 man + CM tactic on the flanks. Kai, Kante, James are all back, but Reece has to mark two men when the ball comes to Phillips. He does well to recover and get a small piece of the second cross.

While Leeds try to exploit us with an extra man on the wing, we try to do the same with an extra man through the center. Again, Leeds fail to pressure adequately and Silva escapes to step into midfield unchallenged; watch Kante immediately drop back again to cover.

After the 2nd goal, Olly runs out of steam and drops deep with Mount, Timo, Kante and Kova to mark mids or close off passing lanes. When Leeds go long and we win it back, Mount plays a superb ball, but Timo misses. However, we needed the press to have a better chance at a 3rd.

With Kova and Tammy on for Giroud and Kai, we had more pace and intensity in the team and it showed. Here, it is Tammy and Kova's pressuring that helps win the ball back high, allowing us to maintain pressure on Leeds. Attack is the best form of defence.

A note about Timo; this guy is world class. He is only getting warmed up; still figuring out runs, patterns and spaces. Keeping his misses aside, there are encouraging signs he is trying to link up from deeper positions to get to spaces in behind, instead of being static at CF.

Finally all the effort pays off. 93rd min with a 2-1 lead in a physically draining game, and Timo's helping out his RB. He then finds the will to sprint behind the defence and pick the perfect pass for Pulisic. If this is how he plays at his worst, his best will be frightening.

In their past games, Leeds had an average of 22 shots. Against us, they had 8, while we had 23. We were also able to score thrice while having only 45% of the ball. This was one of our toughest challenges of a high-tempo game, and Lampard's tactics and team did very well.

Of course, Timo could have had a hat-trick. Kai was jaded, but that's purely because we now know his CoVid was far more severe than anticipated. But this team is only getting stronger, the attack is developing its dynamics. Our ability to suffocate strong teams is second to none.

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