Thomas Tuchel’s NEW 3-5-2 at Chelsea | Tactics Explained

Welcome back! Today we’re discussing Thomas Tuchel’s NEW 3-5-2 at Chelsea in Tactics Explained! After winning the 20/21 Champions League and picking up the second most wins in the Premier League since his first game in charge, Thomas Tuchel has already been a big success at Chelsea. Much of his early success has been down to his usual 3-4-3 but it’s the emergence of a new tactic in the bigger games that’s got me excited.

Regardless of the shape, Chelsea maintain the same principles in possession. With the ball, they look to dominate possession - recycling the ball between their three centre backs, two midfielders and goalkeeper whilst pushing their wing backs up the pitch. The numbers involved in build up and the individual quality of the players make Chelsea extremely press resistant. This allows them to remain patient as they look to constantly switch the point of attack to create gaps in their opposition’s shape that they can progress through. Once they reach the final third, Chelsea look to create by slipping forwards in behind with through balls or by switching the play out to a wing back who can send in a low cross. But without the ball there is a noticeable change between systems.

In the bigger games, Tuchel has tended to switch to a 3-5-2 with a real emphasis on being defensively solid and playing on the counter attack.This doesn’t mean parking the bus like Jose Mourinho, instead Tuchel adopts more of a gegenpress as Chelsea look to force turnovers through their structure and pressing traps. Without the ball Chelsea’s shape becomes a 5-3-2. One of the main reasons that the Blues are so hard to play against is because of how difficult it is to play through this setup. In their mid or low block, Chelsea use a zonal defensive setup.

A key feature of Tuchel’s setup is their pressing. Chelsea’s 5-3-2 often sees the ball side central midfielder step up to join the front 2 to press, becoming a 5-2-3. What generally happens is Chelsea drop into their 5-3-2 with fairly narrow strikers but a wide midfield 3. This central block of 5 players means teams generally play wide as Chelsea rock over to put pressure on the ball with an outside midfielder. This is such an effective tactic because the opposition are boxed in by the touchline which restricts where the ball can go and usually means that a simple forward pass isn’t on. If Chelsea can recover the ball through an interception they’ve got a huge counter attacking threat that is spearheaded by the two central strikers.

So how do you play against Tuchel’s 3-5-2? I think the key is that you have to be brave and play risky tactics which play into Tuchel’s fast breaks. You either have to play through the centre of Chelsea with one touch play and get at the back 5 with numbers. Alternatively you have to match up your system and deploy a man to man scheme in a 3-4-1-2. In the Champions League final, Manchester City tried to press Chelsea with a back 4 but it cost them the only goal of the game. This isn’t the first time that Chelsea have done this to City either as Ziyech scored the winner in the FA Cup after a very similar switch to a wingback allowed Mount to get Timo Werner in behind City’s defence.

With some of the best players in the world, an incredible amount of squad depth and one of the best tacticians in Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea are going places and I’d argue that the German currently has the best big game setup in the world.

Do you agree? Have you been impressed by Tuchel’s Chelsea? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

#Tuchel #Chelsea #Tactics

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Music By: "After The Fall"
Track Name: "Pieces (Extended Version)"
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Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)

[masonwillis]

Timo’s English has massively improved!

[theoscar]

Timo Werner explaining Tuchel's tactics is so satisfying

[ihabammoury]

The UEFA manager of the year in last 3 years, has been won by 3 German managers, it's looklike German managers are dominating in modern football 🤯

[DevilsRealTalk]

I'm a man utd supporter and I have to give tuchel a lot of praise. His tactics with chelsea have been 💯

[catthomas]

Never been more proud to be a chelsea supporter!

[aaront]

rudiger and thiago silva solid as a rock

[ForzaOwnz]

That flat 3 in the middle could be a godsend for Man United's No 6 issues. By being able to defend like that you can alleviate the issues that having both Pogba and Bruno in there present. Shaw would be amazing on the left and with a bit more effort Dalot could really do a job on the right

[ConversationsWithJesusChrist]

Where have you been all along... this is one of the best analysis I have seen on youtube. Instant subscription

[miacaliper]

Can you do one for Tuchel’s suitability to United please?

[kfl]

tuchel he's one epl trophy and second ucl trophy away from been our greatest ever manager is that good

[rezaabbasi]

Looking forward to see how mangers counter this tactics.

[jokerShjj]

Champions of Europe we know what we are🔥🔥🔥💙💙💙🇳🇦

[slimquan]

Nice stuff Dave, tuchel is indeed a genius, if he had done this with psg he'd have won the UCL with them

[mango-vutk]

I think you were more focused on the defensive aspect
There's more to the attacking side of his tactics

[Shaneafc]

Only issue is the amount of attacking talent left on the bench - Werner, Ziyech, Hudson Odoi, Pulisic will miss a lot of games

[mell]

Speed kills, sit deep and counter attack. There is always a way.

[x.makenzie]

My dad has stopped watch football for ages he said football nowadays are boring coz player are not playing as a team. But now he hasn't missed any Chelsea match, he never bored to watch them even for multiple times. He said Tuchel keep surprising him and Chelsea player are great catching up Tuchel tactics, the only downside is when some of Chelsea player still have individualism intention on pitch.

[nemoarkanian]

Looks more sophisticated than Conte's system at Chelsea.

[marlonochoa]

I LOVE TUCHELBALL I fell in love with it in that game against Madrid as a Madrid fan I was left in awe what a beautiful playing style TUCHELBALL is the best form of playing the beautiful game

[anilbodar]

Appreciate your work man 👍🏻 i think chelsea is weak in midfield in terms of attacking but RLC rise is so satisfying now we have something different in midfield with attacking mindset