Three things we learned from Chelsea FC draw as tactical tweak unlocks new blueprint
Chelsea claimed a 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Anfield in a match that ebbed and flowed this way and that but ended level to just about keep alive the Blues’ hopes of European football.
After Ryan Gravenberch and Enzo Fernandez scored goals for either side in the first half, Cole Palmer slammed home after the interval and thought he had given Chelsea their first Premier League lead since March 4 until it was disallowed for an offside in the build-up.
Curtis Jones had a goal for Liverpool ruled out for the same reason, and Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk both then hit the woodwork. Both sides’ search for a winner was in vain, though, yet a point for Chelsea was no bad thing a week out from their FA Cup final. A first start since the Club World Cup for Levi Colwill and first appearance since injury for Reece James were bonuses.
Chelsea’s concerning habit
The Blues made an abysmal start once again, conceding early once more as a worrying trend continued.
Having shipped the opening goal to Brighton at the Amex in the third minute of Liam Rosenior’s final game and conceded to Nottingham Forest in the second minute on Monday, they were behind after only six minute to Gravenberch’s effort from distance. And a fine strike though it was, Filip Jorgensen — standing in for the injured Robert Sanchez — should have at least got his hand to a shot that was curling in on itself towards the middle of the goal.
It was the ninth time Chelsea have conceded in the opening ten minutes of a Premier League game this season. Only Burnley, proud owners of the division’s most generous defence, have conceded more (ten).
Touch-tight marking in wide areas was nonexistent in that opening period of the game. Rio Ngumoha was granted far too much space in the lead-up to that Gravenberch goal by Cole Palmer. Soon after, Van Dijk so nearly made it 2-0 when afforded room by Fernandez, who had tried to play him offside — an ill-judged decision.
McFarlane’s tactical tweak works
A second successive match without the injured Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho gave McFarlane something of a headache ahead of the game, with Jamie Gittens and Estevao’s absences leaving the Blues short of any nominal wingers.
The interim head coach’s solution was to set Chelsea up in a 3-4-3 formation with Enzo Fernandez an auxiliary left winger but left wing-back Marc Cucurella instead providing almost all of the width on that flank.
The early signs were not positive as Ngumoha and Van Dijk found themselves in far too much space from a Chelsea perspective, especially given that a back five ought to have made defending the flanks easier for Chelsea with an extra man in the back-line.
They recovered and improved, though, and Cucurella was a constant threat all afternoon, particularly when set free by Moises Caicedo’s chipped through-balls over the top of the Liverpool defence. He forced a first-half save, and Palmer’s disallowed goal came from that same route as well. Chelsea were unfortunate it did not pay off but it was smart thinking from McFarlane and surely something they will think about trying to reproduce at Wembley next Saturday.
Fernandez proving McFarlane’s lucky general
Wesley Fofana had a swing and a miss at Fernandez’s low free-kick delivery and immediately pointed to the Argentine and grinned as it went in. It’s your goal, he was saying, as Chelsea celebrated their equaliser by the corner flag.
With that, confirmation Fernandez had continued his very decent record under McFarlane.
Over the course of McFarlane’s wo stints in charge — first as caretaker head coach in January, now as interim — World Cup winner Fernandez has found the net in three of his five matches in charge.
A late equaliser against Manchester City at the Etihad in the bitter January cold, a winner in the Leeds FA Cup semi-final a fortnight ago, and now at Anfield.
He could have even had enough when he was sent through and brought a save out of Giorgi Mamardashvili five minutes after scoring. The point Chelsea earned from his equaliser could well prove to be a valuable one.
