Rafael Benitez was baptized against City and was applauded by critics for the splendid improvement in Chelsea's defense as the teams played out a draw. He had earlier told the media that he had identified the problems in Di Matteo's tactical approach and had worked on it.
It was clearly shown against City as Chelsea denied City a chance to capitalize and the fans were even treated to a good defensive performance by Mr. Geezer.
Defensive setup under Di Matteo revolved around the full-backs staying wide with the center-backs forming a 3-man penalty area defense along with Mikel. This allowed Oscar, Torres and either Mata or Hazard to beupfront with Ramires at the edge of the box along with either Mata or Hazard.
This made sure that Chelsea were not really good aerially, unless they had someone with exceptional reading capabilities, i.e. - John Terry . Plus Ramires with his pace could initiate counter-attacks along with Oscar , Torres and Mata/ Hazard while Mata/ Hazard was recovering from defending one of the flanks.
With Benitez "identifying" the weaknesses in the Chelsea squad, he most definitely fixed this major defect in the defensive third under my observation -
Letting the box be penetrable -
This was a major concern as opposition players started running in behind the defenders. Moreover even aerially, Luiz had huge difficulties in facing some of the players.
So the first step was to let the full-backs push back inside to the box. This could make sure that the penalty box was crowded by 5 to 6 players at a time. With the full-backs being called back , the problem was that the flanks were all open. This was covered up by making sure that the wide players retrieved in time, giving them additional defensive duties in simple words.
Despite that, one of the wide players has to stay in a position that helps him to initiate a quick counter-attack. In the frame, Mata is a bit behind the box as he waits for the City player to make a run. This gives Chelsea a much better defensive approach along with a balanced attack.
Only problem this causes is that Chelsea's attack virtually dies out, with Torres having to work more harder. He did do it but was very unlucky to not find the net.
In a nutshell -
fernando put in good game????
ReplyDeleteu kidding me??? he was the worst player on pitch....
You did not watch the match. Along with Azplicueta he worked really hard to get the ball and fought for it. Hazard had a bad game, whereas Ramires was phenomenal and Oscar and Mata were decent.
DeleteOpen your eyes, its okay to give players credit when they deserve it.
He didn't watch the match or he is just blinded by hate for FT9. Craig Burley is the same. People like these can't see the positives because all they have left is hate and only look for the worst.
Deletei watched the match... and stand by what i said. yes he worked hard. he has been doing that from the start of the season. but still was poor in his movement, in his touches. had only one shot on goal. and that too from 15 yards out which he skied in the air.
Deletecan't get you people still supporting him. believe me, if he does well, i will be the first person to appraise him.
and about Azplicueta, yes he was tremendous. has been good every time has played.
His movement was actually good. His touches are still being affected by injury and yes you can blame him for that.
DeleteWhy did he have one shot at goal? Oscar , Mata and Hazard did not give him any service. They are the ones to be blamed.
Torres was very poor in WBA, Juventus, Swansea and Liverpool but I watched the City game 6 times, and like all the other pundits and critics who said Torres had a decent game, I stand by my word.
don't know which pundits you are talking about....
Deleteand certainly you might be knowing better as you have watched 6 times to mine one time.....
though i also saw espn pundits review, i.e. after the match, monday night verdict, espn fc press pass, but everyone said the same thing about torres that he was poor. plus i also read the match ratings on different sites and all had rated torres poorly.
and this was the only match he lacked service... previously he had plenty but still no out come. didn't had enough shots on target the also. ask any striker in the world and they would dream to play in front of mazacar...
anyhow hope he plays better against fulham and scores...
Am again mentioning here, I have nothing against TORRES....
Davesh. Don't take those ESPN pundits seriously. I've watched it a few times and I find those guys to be jokes. Their knowledge of the game is as much like that of a mere football supporter with no experience playing the game itself whatsoever. The majority of people who watch football matches,not NFL,through ESPN would agree that the commentry is very poor. They follow the bashing british press. Let's use Ashley Cole as an example. If the press in England start to bash him then people will start to believe it even though he does plays well. Only a handful stick to what they see on the pitch and I consider myself as one of them only because I actually play the game and have a tactical eye for it. I agree with Benitez that Torres doesn't get much service and in my opinion that's mainly because of a lack of balls being played through from deep. The goals Torres got in the Euros not long ago is an indicator of how you should play Torres in at goal. Xavi created two goals from deep for Torres which he finished off in limited time in the tournament. Don't listen to pundits mate and actually watch the game with an open mind.
DeleteTorres has been so poor that this lil physical improvement made it seem as if it was good. Torres tried to race with company once n didn't win then he tried it about 2 more times. He is trying to depend on the speed which he no longer has.
Deletehe has lost his speed that is true... and might never recover it.
Deletebut for me, speed was one of his strengths, among others. he was class, in his touches, in his finishing, picking up the corners of the goal, hitting it from range, left foot, right foot, sometimes headers also. this is where my mind boggles.... he has lost all of that at once.
e.g. giggs, scholes, they have lost their pace because of their age but not their class.
similarly torres lost pace because of injuries, but his class is missing too....
Yes. He lost exelleration and the build up in speed but can still be used in an effective way. I don't believe he lost his finess and clinical scoring ability though. That comes from confidence. I hope Benitez can restore it,his self confidence. In Sunday's game I saw a slightly different Torres since the one in games before that. He showed more aggression,will and drive to work hard. With Chelsea's midfield,Torres should atleast have five or more chances at goal but still we only see one or two. Goals will never come without momentum.
DeleteThis analysis is the bomb. A tactics that make Torres work harder would kill him. I was wondering how come we had better chances and shot at goal at Turin with no striker and then just one shot at goal at the bridge with a striker. I fear if we make Torres our main outlet, the chances would be reduced.
ReplyDeleteTorres put a good fight hahaha, a striker who can not bite the defenders. This time around defenders don't mark him bcos his not biting at all.
ReplyDeleteWhat pains me the most is that he doesn't realise he is now slow.
ReplyDeleteI feel our only hope of winning anything trophy wise is buying falcao in January and hope RA stops this obsession with Torres comeback because its not going to happen. Yes he works hard but the pace has gone and Torres is limited to "he can't miss that" situations. With sturridge getting injured and a poor Torres we are look at a empty cabinet. Also yes we defensive-wise we were better but I still will never like rafa I will support the club but not him.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a lot of dull games, but believe me when i say this one is by far the worse of them all. It was very very very uneventfull. Rafa is going to finnaly place our beloved team were we truly belongs.
ReplyDeleteAnybody else noticed ramires is playing a lil different? He is now threading needle eye passes, now a disadvantage of this is people will need to accept not all his passes will be good, somtimes he'll hav bad days where he will giv away the baLl nd from wat I notice, weneva a dm gives away the ball every1 seems 2 notice.
ReplyDeleteAgree, Torres is rubbish......
ReplyDelete