What Chelsea’s average positions map vs Bournemouth tells us about their 3-4-2-1 formation
Xabi Alonso’s system has been a major talking point at Chelsea this season, with the Spaniard preferring a back three.
Before pre-season, it was not quite clear which formation Alonso was going to go with. Under Liam Rosenior and Enzo Maresca, Chelsea mostly used a back four, which is what Alonso also employed at Real Madrid.
However, the 44-year-old used a back three at Bayer Leverkusen and achieved a lot of success by doing so. So far, he has had mixed results with his 3-4-2-1 system at Chelsea, and before the international break, some fans were urging him to revert to a back four.
Without knowing, these Chelsea fans actually got their wish on Saturday as Alonso’s men thrashed Bournemouth 5-1.
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Xabi Alonso’s 3-4-2-1 formation can be fluid
While Chelsea lined up in a 3-4-2-1 shape on paper and defended in a back five, their set-up over the weekend was very fluid. And that has not always been the case.
Looking at their average positions map on Sofascore, you can see that Chelsea practically attacked with a front four, with Pedro Neto joining Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro and Morgan Rogers in the frontline. It worked, as the Blues were absolutely relentless going forward.
At the back, as Neto pushed up, Josh Acheampong shuffled across to the right-back position, leaving Chelsea in a back four. In the middle, Moises Caicedo and Jordan Henderson maintained their starting roles.
At this point, Chelsea’s formation looked more like a 4-2-4 than a 3-4-2-1, showing that Alonso’s set-up can be flexible. It is in stark contrast to what we saw in Chelsea’s first game of the season against Fulham.
Chelsea’s average positions map versus Fulham shows everyone basically stuck to their positions, which is quite rare in this era of positional play. Whatever the case, it worked that night, but if Chelsea’s last outing is anything to go by, Alonso is not going to be rigid.
Alonso has already stated that he will be flexible, and we have now seen signs of that.
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