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Tumbleweed

A lesson to be learnt from Chelsea

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Now I was at Chelsea on Saturday with a mate who had a spare ticket on the morning of the game and I have to say that I think we could learn a thing or two from them just in pure organisation.

They played a 4-1-4-1 formation.

Drogba up front in the centre, tall lanky and can hold the ball up. Robben and Duff both get forward whenever possible to support. Lampard and Cole hold the centre and balls bouncing out of defence or when nothing is on get passed back to two midfielders making themselves available

But the really clever bit is how Makalele plays in the hole just in front of the defence. If a ball goes left he runs over to cover for Duff, if to the right then he does the same for Robben- that way neither Bridge or Ferreira get exposed. Also, he picks up the runner from deep, making sure there''s never a man on the overlap in the centre who is not picked up. In attack, Bridge hurtles forward, Makalele charges over to hold left back, then moves qucikly back to the centre when Bridge returns. Ditto when the right back gets forward.

Now I would always rather be at Carrow Road when I can get a ticket and time off but watching that defence organise itself was like watching a well oiled machine through glass at a museum where you are blown away at the cogs moving and clicking so well.

Its not just down to skill- these are things that our chaps just don''t seem to be capable of doing. Yet we even have our own equivalents to their players- Safri could do the Makalele job, Francis for Lampard, Mulryne for Cole. And now we have our own skillful and deadly (but not quite as lanky) target man in Ashton with Hux as our own Robben and Jonson or McVeigh as our version of Duff. Whereas we move around like headless chickens believing that just running anywhere amounts to "workrate" and is therefore good, they move slickly and sweetly knowing exactly who should be where in any given situation.

We don''t have £200m to spend but we can get the same basics right. Yes we need to bring in some decent defenders, but we have to get them doing the right things in the right places on the pitch.

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Look at Chelsea''s team mate:

Cech   Terry   Carvalho   Bridge  Ferreira   Lampard    Duff   Robben  Makalele   Drogba  Gudjonsen

Now look at ours:

Green    Fleming    Doherty    Drury    Helveg    Holt   Francis   Mulryne   Jonson  Huckerby  Ashton

WHATS THE DIFFERENCE????

Chelsea have a team full of world class players, we only have one so called "world class" player, Helveg.

If you don''t have enough quality, it doesn''t matter what tactics you play. If it would work that way we would be in Europe next season! (mind you we probably will be through the fair play league!!!!)

 

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This formation had been highlighted on MotD before Christmas. Everton''s rise to 2nd was pretty much due to this formation. It really does work, but it requires pacy wingers to support the lone frontman, and someone in the middle with a good long range shot. It means defenders can quickly shut down the attacking midfield but also string short sharp passes together up the pitch. It is a good formation, but the most influential player is the defensive 1: Chelsea have Makelele but I can''t remember who Everton use. 

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point taken volpe but i think you''re missing the point.

when we did have a player in front of the defence (4-1-2-1-2), i think it was safri and if i recall, it looked quite good on that front. we had problems with the wings but that''s because we were still playing 2 up front.

Green

Edworthy
Doc
Flem
Drury

Safri/Helveg

Jonson/McVeigh
Francis
Mulryne/Safri/Helveg
Huckerby

Ashton

not bad. but we''d have to be careful to support ashton up front.

having said all this...this formation isn''t dissimilar from the 4-5-1 we''ve been doing. so maybe it''s not that much different from the problems we''ve been having supporting the lone striker upfront. again, we miss bentley in a 4-5-1 formation. you need that creative player to help push on and support that striker.

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Francesco- please read my post properly. You don''t need stars to get the basics right. The point is ORGANISATION. They could have a team of crapheads but still if they play to a system they will be in the right place at the right time. I made this clear in my post.

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I think Gravesen did it for Everton, thatis why they were so successful

I think that maybe it is a godd idea, but only if it doesn''t drift into the 4-5-1 we have been playing recently

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