Chelsea vs Tottenham: Two things Tuchel needs to improve on ahead of crunch London derby

Chelsea are preparing to face Tottenham Hotspur in a promising Premier League clash on Sunday 14th August 2022. A London Derby is no easy game and players as well as fans will already feel the atmosphere changing as a fiesty match beckons.

Thomas Tuchel, the German manager who replaced club veteran Frank Lampard, was a welcome change for Chelsea fans after Lampard was fired.

Everyone connected with the club was in favour of switching from Frank Lampard's unsuccessful 4-3-3 configuration to the more defensively astute 3-4-2-1.

While this change has been the catalyst for a monumental Champions League triumph as well as Club World Cup and Super Cup, it is still regarded as a defensive approach and there are concerns about its use over the long term.

Chelsea faced Everton last weekend and came out with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Lampard's men.

However, as the London Derby beckons, allnigeriasoccer.com takes a look at two things Tuchel needs to improve on.

Central penetration

Premier League teams have started working out how to stop Chelsea from penetrating the lines and this has restricted Thomas Tuchel's men to only possessing the ball in less dangerous areas of the pitch.

This is partly because the 3-4-2-1 formation accommodates one extra defensive player which means one less attacking player.

Thus the task falls on the defenders especially the wingbacks to contribute to attacking productivity.

At a point last season, a very high percentage of Chelsea's goals were scored by defenders.

Against Everton, the signs were there again. Most of the attacks came down the flanks with very little penetration from the middle.

Antonio Conte is another strong user of three 3-centreback formation and knows exactly how to block the flanks from being penetrated.

The Italian has also been able to strengthen his backline with astute additions.

Thus, Tuchel would have to improve how his players penetrate centrally else, a stalemate is in the works.

Counter-press

No doubt that the blues were exposed to a series of counter-attacking situations against Everton.

Objectively, if the Toffees has their strike-force fit, they could have caused a lot of damage.

The counter-attack is one of Conte's most deadly weapons and facing the likes of Harry Kane, Son Heung Min and Dejan Kulusevski is a far more scary situation than Anthony Gordon, Dele Alli and co.

Tuchel has to improve the intensity of the Blues' counter-press especially when they lose the ball in attacking zones of the pitch.

Sofoluwe Mayowa

Photo Credit : evertonfc.com

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