How Chelsea’s 4-3-3 works and a system we should experiment with (A Thread)

Chelsea have been on a great run of form (at the time of writing) and the main reasons for this are because of important players coming back from injuries and the change in system’s and formations. We started using it properly in our 1st match against Krasnodar at the end...

of the game and it looked perfect, players were in the right positions, they all looked comfortable and we made sharp intricate passes whilst being very stable at the back.

In this thread I’ll be explaining the following:

- Analysing the system
- 3 of our most important players to the system
- How we look with(out) the ball
- Our strongest team

Now Chelsea’s 4-3-3 system is very organised and also attacking, they always seem to be on the front foot. The pressing is very high pressure and the passes are sharp. The formation consists of 2 centre halves, one ball playing and the other a stopper (Silva and Zouma).

2 complete full backs which prioritise overlapping runs rather than defending deep. The midfield is a triangle with 2 8s which have the ability to go forward and defensive midfielder sitting in front of the two centre backs and a bit deeper in between the 8s.

We play possession based football and build from the back. The high-line doesn’t help us defensively but it can definitely be pulled off with the correct players. Thiago Silva and a ball-playing sweeper keeper helps a lot in this system like Ederson, Allison or even Mendy rn.

This is how we line-up (Strongest Line Up imo)…

WITH THE BALL:

The defence with the ball:

When Chelsea have the ball, they have Silva and Zouma high up the pitch with Silva just a bit deeper to read and intercept possible long balls over the top and to read attacks. We have Kante who can occupy a lot of space when our highline is exposed due to a loss in possession.

Kante can cover a lot of space due to his speed and stamina. He protects the back 2 with the ball very well. In this graphic we see the red team retain possession and make use of our high defensive line. #4 does this by playing a long ball into the right space (where #11 is)

which is left open by Reece James as he was instructed to go forward.

The space Kante can occupy is the red spaces and black arrows connected. With a less mobile DM we wouldn’t be able to do this unless they have good positioning. If the DM can’t fill in then that means...

Zouma would have to fill in which leaves Silva in a 1 v 1 situation with #9. This is why Kante sort of gives us a numerical advantage, we can keep two of our centre halves on the central striker. When Kante fills in he can either win the ball back or stall #11 until Reece James

gets back into defence.

This is great and all if Kante gets his positioning right as a DM which he only started doing this season. He has a habit of trying to win the ball back high up the pitch but in this case he needs to sit back and fill in the gaps made by the full backs.

An example of this not working is the Leeds game which is a perfect example of positioning.

The midfield and forwards with the ball:

Let’s start with my favourite thing about how we attack.

The Hexagon.

The hexagon is one of THE most effective ways to build play as there are so many passing lanes available because of the number of triangles (6) which Pep introduced at Barca for tiki taka to work. "Take the ball, pass the ball".

We've actually completed the most passess and had the most touches as a team in the league so far this season (at the time of writing,
5632 passess and 8265 touches). If we were to keep this shape throughout build-up, we would be unstoppable...

if done to the highest degree of accuracy as there will always be 3 passing options available (NO POSSESSION LOST)

An example in game vs Sheffield:

If Kante is getting pressed all game, Mount has the ability to drop deep and give Kante that extra passing option just in case where he can spray long balls to the wide attackers. This is why I love Mount.

The engines in Mount and Kante in this midfield is very helpful. Mount can very easily drop deep. Mount has a very free role in this system. He can go forward well and collect the ball from deep and use his passing range to play a long ball over to the wings.

Another way Mount is used is when the full back, in this case Chillwell, leaves spaces going forward or when there are pockets of space left by the opposition defence.

Mount can drop in the space left by #3 and play diagonal balls to Reece on the right when there are overloads made on the left which is something I will talk about later in the thread. Mout can also join the attack with Havertz, this gives us a numerical advantage going forward.

This perfectly leads me on to something I’d like to see MORE of. OVERLOADS.

Here is what I imagine. The red team is set in a 4-4-2 low block (should be deeper). As you can see in the blue area, we’re in a 5 v 6 scenario. I chose CHO, Chillwell and Mount as the perfect examples for this to work.

A weakness for any low-block is width and using the full width of the pitch. In order to stretch the pitch out, we can use overloads. One of either Mount, CHO, Chillwell or even Kante can switch using diagonal balls over to the right where we’re in a 3v2 situation.

This can be done both ways because of the quality we have on the flanks.

Left to Right:

Mount
CHO
Chillwell

Right to Left:

Havertz
Ziyech
James

Here is a YouTube video of our full backs showing their passing skills and ability to ping the ball to the opposite flanks and their crossing.

This also leads me on to the flanks.

Our full backs are so important to the system we play. Chillwell and Reece are amazing going forward and both have great engines to track back. Something else I love about them is their aerial ability. Last time I checked Reece...

has the 3rd best aerial success rate in the league.

The width in our team is very deadly, personally my favourite side is the right. Reece has superb crossing and all round he is a very good full back but Ziyech is the one that takes it another level.

The unpredictability from that side is so deadly. Ziyech has his world class left foot and Reece’s right foot. There’s creativity, speed, passing and strength on the right side and it’s very complete.

They also complement each other since Ziyech likes to drift into midfield and bring the ball onto his left foot. Reece can make overlapping runs and put crosses into the box whilst confusing the opposition full back. The same could be said for Werner and Chilwell.

Werner loves to occupy the central spaces and drift inside, this gives Chilwell space for the cross.

Here I’m showing you the many ways we can attack in and around the box and also from the back.

Option 1: The Ziyech Special

Ziyech drifts into the midfield which leaves spaces for Reece to attack and make an overlapping run. Ziyech can either use his signature pass on his left to the back post which Pulisic and Chillwell are very good at finishing or...

he can fake the pass and play Reece in so he can cross it into either Giroud or Havertz. Unpredictable.

Option 2: The cut back

When there’s space left open in the opposition defence, Chelsea attack it very well. Here we can see Giroud pulling #5 out of his positions which leaves half space free to attack.

Either Ziyech or Reece can play Havertz or Kovacic in and they can make the cut back. The cut back is very effective and we saw it in use vs Sheffield. Here’s my tweet explaining it.

https://twitter.com/CFCKhanage/status/1335151774987132930?s=20

Option 3:

Overloads (I already talked about this before)

Option 4:

Flick ons to feed the wide player.

Since Tammy and Giroud are so aerially dominant, we can use the two for long balls. Last season we just played short passes everywhere on the field but now with Thiago Silva we attempt more long balls. Here’s how it would look.

Silva plays a long ball out to Tammy. Tammy attracts the CB out of position and wins the aerial duel. He flicks the ball into the area left by the CB and Werner can utilise this space with attacking freedom and pace.

There are probably more ways of attacking but for me these are the main ones, feel free to add.

WITHOUT THE BALL:

Chelsea are actually one of the best pressing teams in the league. We ran and pressed a very high octane Leeds side by 6km. Here’s a graph which shows the team which dispossesses their opponents the most per game in the PL.

As you can see, the teams at the top are mainly attacking sides.

We defend very aggressively in a pretty narrow shape therefore more compact.

Our front 3 press effectively. They win the ball back as soon as possible and try to force the opposition on one side.

This limits their attacking threat and when forcing enough pressure they don’t have enough time and room to switch the ball.

The picture shows the front three pressing and Mount joining the press with Kante protecting the back 4 .It’s pretty simple yet effective stuff.

If we don’t line up in a 4-3-3 without the ball that would mean we’d be less upfield and we’d line up in a 4-4-2 midblock which sets us up perfectly in counters and effective transitions. This is my favourite as the players we have for this make it so easy to score.

This would mainly be used against a team with a high defensive line when we’re on the back foot. Werner as the number 9 is perfect when he has space in behind. Havertz in transition with space is one of the best players on the pitch.

Pulisic can run run run and his clinical finishing in those scenarios would be key (e.g: vs City). CHO would give us a ball over the top or could even join the attack if we’re looking for pace up front. This team is very scary if not careful when attacking our box.

( I’m still learning how to analyse defending without the ball when it comes to football so I’m sorry if it isn’t to the standard you’d like)

Something I’d like to see being introduced now that we have no wingers available :

Something in the future (From @Regista23_ and @JRcentre):

@JRcentre and @Regista23_ ‘s Explanation (Both top accounts so give them a follow)

End of Thread (Likes and RT’s appreciated)

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