[Thomas Tuchel's tactic at Chelsea]

Hi guys, 

This is my first proper post so sorry if it's long or a bit too wordy! 

I have been following Chelsea closely since they appointed Tuchel as manager and I thought I would give his tactic a go.

The Tactic

This is the final build of the tactic. During a lot of the season I was experimenting and tinkering with player roles to get to a final build that I am extremely happy with.

On transfers, I only bought in one defender in January after Azpilacueta requested to leave.

The first half of the Premier League season, we were too passive with the ball and only managed to score 26 goals in 19 games With Timo Werner being top scorer with 6 goals. 

After the half way point, I changed the roles of the front three and really started to see the rewards. 

We finished the season second top scorers, scoring 68 goals, Tammy scored 13 and Timo 16 with Mason Mount getting 9 assists. We also had the second best defence, conceding only 20 goals.

We finished the season top of the possession statistics by having 60% on average per game. We also made 4100 more passes than any other team over the course of the season making 20843 passes over the 38 games (average of 548.5 passes per game). 

Average position against lower opposition (6-0 win vs Burnley)

Average positions against similar opposition (2-0 Win vs Dortmund)

 

Average positions vs higher opposition (3-1 Win vs Bayern)

 

The final build

 

 

The positives

• Possession

The possession statistics in this tactic were very similar to those of Chelsea in real life. Being dominant on the ball and having players comfortable in a variety of areas of the pitch was critical to the success of this tactic. The fluidity and versatility of key players, alongside the passing quality within the squad meant we could dominate most teams we faced and pick out those key passes into our forward three with quick, precise movement.

• More Clinical

After the half way point of the season before I tweaked the tactic, we went from being passive on the ball to being much more dangerous. Our biggest win in the first 19 games was a 3-0 victory over Fulham.

Once the tweak was implemented, we enjoyed a 6-0 win over Burnley, a 7-1 win over West Ham and a 5-1 win over high flying Leeds. The personal goal scoring stats as above were also greatly improved.

 

• Availability

One key issue I noticed at first with my tactic was the options on the ball. My players were very static and almost scared to roam from their positions. I aimed to make my team play in a way in which the ball carrier would always have two or three options available to make a pass. As below, in the first image, as others have posted, I aimed to create a diamond shape between my front three and my most advanced central midfielder, Kovacic. As the ball progresses up the pitch I wanted them to be able to roam, swap positions but always have this shape or as close to this as possible. 

In the second image, I was extremely happy with my teams positioning when we regain the ball in the middle of the pitch. As Kovacic picks up the ball in a deeper area, he instantly has four or five viable passing options in order to advance the ball. 

 

• Bodies in the box

I am a big believer of packing the box with bodies in order to pressurise defenders and create gaps and opportunities for your strikers. In the below example against Tottenham, I was happy to see my attacking front three and also my winger urgently getting into the box in order to give Chilwell options as he moves towards the box. This move actually ends in Hudson-Odoi scoring a back post header as the covering center back was occupied by Mason Mount, leaving the Tottenham full back to drop in extremely narrow into a position they aren't comfortable in.

 

The Negatives

• Space in behind

The most frustrating aspect of this tactic was the amount of times teams scored via long balls over the top into the highlighted spaces. Granted, we had the second best defence in the league so I can't be too critical but I feel like it's only fair to give both positives and negatives from my one season so far.

In the first image, a lofted ball from Kouyate cuts straight through our defence for Zaha to get onto the end of and score. While I know these can happen to any team and are extremely hard to counteract, I was worried to see the two spare players on the far side of the pitch in acres of space.

In the second image, it was again a long ball from deep into the space between my central and right hand center back that we couldn't seem to deal with. 

 

 

• Mason Mount

I am an extremely big fan of Mason Mount in real life and also on Football Manager. I think he is such a well rounded player which a great eye for goal. Which unfortunately, seemed to be missing for him in our Premier League campaign as he scored just 5 goals in 34 appearances. He was scoring in other competitions though so I am hoping next season, he can add to his tally. 

Season results 

Please see below the performance in all competitions this season.

 

[Thomas Tuchel's tactic at Chelsea]

Hi guys, 

I have been following this thread for a while and now i've had some time off work i decided to see how i could get on with my own go at a Tuchel tactic and sign up to share my experience. 

I am wanting to do a little write up but i'm struggling to find out how to add images like above to my post. Can someone give me some pointers? 

Thank you!