Like (nearly) everyone here, I'm delighted with our recent form. But I am curious to know everyone's opinion on how one would counter Conte's 3-4-3 if they were the opposition manager.

I've been delighted in seeing more than a few teams I thought would trouble us, struggle badly against our new formation. I am curious to see what will end up being the formation/set of tactics that ends up being used to counter us.

There isnt one,we are now invincible lol.

Put 11 out field players on Hazard ..........and pray.

Play three pacey forwards who interchange a lot up front and set your midfield to either crowd us in the middle or to block off passing avenues between our midfield and Hazard/Pedro.

21 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

Play three pacey forwards who interchange a lot up front and set your midfield to either crowd us in the middle or to block off passing avenues between our midfield and Hazard/Pedro.

I feel like teams have tried to do this though. But we have been incredible at being patient with our passing when needed(especially between Kante, Matic and the back three) and using Alonso and Moses how they should be and not getting stressed by teams defending deep and looking to counter us.

 

 

When we are in possession in our 3rd of the pitch, press us very high up the field, don't give any of the back 3 a moment on the ball, as we still pass it around too much at the back sometimes and will try to play our way out of trouble.

When the ball is in the middle or their 3rd of the pitch, sit back with lots of players behind the ball and try to force us to move the ball centrally instead of out wide, where it is too congested to do much.

When they win the ball back, counter attack with directness and pace.

Show Hazard and Pedro onto the outside, as they are more dangerous when they cut inside and shoot/pass, instead of getting to the byline and putting crosses in, which they don't do very much.

We've yet to come up against a team that can actually press us properly, when that happens we will struggle.  

We've yet to come up against a team that can actually press us properly, when that happens we will struggle.  

Unlike Man Utd whose 6-3-1 played right into our hands, I thought Southampton's pressing (which gave Man City problems), would trouble us.
Delighted I was so wrong

This thread needs to be shut down lest an opposing manager frequents our board and sees it

The pessimist in me feels we'll get figured out like Ancelotti's Christmas tree formation did back in the 09-10 season so we then reverted back to our trusty 4-3-3.

This thread needs to be shut down lest an opposing manager frequents our board and sees it

Any manager that surfs opposition fan forums looking for tactical insight probably won't be in a job very long!

:)

18 minutes ago, Qaz said:

 

Any manager that surfs opposition fan forums looking for tactical insight probably won't be in a job very long!

:)

 

Exactly

This is how our opponents should line up against us in our current form

The thread title should read: How to score against Chelsea.

Use a 4-man formation at the back to prevent dangerous 3 v 3 scenarios at the back.

Form a tight band when defending so that incoming attackers run into a wall instead of space. 

When attacking, get the ball to the full backs and get them to try to pin the wing-backs back. If you can pin them back it robs the 3-4-3 of much of its attacking width. Also you create 1 v 1 situations on the flanks which might suck one of the two central midfielders out of position to 'help out'.

Get the wingers to play as inside forwards to create a 3 v 3 situation against their defence, with the full backs providing width and a secondary attacking option if need be (crosses). 

The 3-4-3 is a counter-attacking formation, so I would play 3 in the midfield so I could have an extra man back to help defend against counterattacks and limit their possession. The less possession they have, the less counter-attacking opportunities there are by definition. 

Also try to have two box-to-box midfielders to keep their two central midfielders occupied. 

My strategy would require attacking full-backs and box-to-box midfielders to have a real chance of working, FWIW.

1 hour ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

The pessimist in me feels we'll get figured out like Ancelotti's Christmas tree formation did back in the 09-10 season so we then reverted back to our trusty 4-3-3.

The Christmas tree formation became impractical because Bosingwa, who believe it or not was a pretty good attacking full-back way back when, got injured and was replaced with Ivanovic, who was back then not accustomed to going forward. With Bosingwa out of the way, teams could simply man-mark Cole and rob us of our width while having an extra attacker free against our defence (because even if Ivanovic got forward, he would probably be impotent anyway).

I am worried about Moses and particularly Alonso getting injured for similar reasons. Azpi/Willian/Aina could probably do a serviceable job replacing Moses for a game or two, but we don't have many left-footed players in this side. Pedro is two-footed but that's about it. 

 

 

I still think Azpi & Moses can be targeted in the air, Alonso is not that great defensively so getting early balls in at the back post could be one avenue teams can look to explore.

I think Southampton aimed at exploiting that area but with Hazards early goal we were able to sit back, Kante & Matic just completely shut them out.

Kidnap Eden Hazard.

I think our formation really exploits a 4 at the back, as the full backs have too much they need to cover, they either have to watch a marauding wing back and leave either Hazard or Pedro to one of the CB whilst they they make their diagonal runs in behind (something I think is very hard to defend against) or specifically follow the runs of Pedro and Hazard and allow the full back either a huge amount of space or the need for your wingers to be very defensive, whilst this is probably easier to cope with defensively it means you are always on the back foot bringing a huge amount of Pressure and allowing us to dominate the flow of the game.

So for me my approach would be to match it man for man defensively. and would go with either a 5-1-2-2 or a 5-2-1-2 the two up top i think is essential as you will need at least 2 players to press our CBs and then I would want 3 CBs one marking Costa and the others Pedro and Hazard, whilst this may lead to a few one on one situations, i think it is better knowing who should be covering the runners then potentially leaving a man to run in behind (ala Pedro v Man U) and then the wing backs will need to be as active defensively and offensively as Moses and Alonso.

I would probably go for the 5-1-2-2 formation.
    CB-CB-CB
WB - CDM - WB
     CM - CM
   ST    -   ST

As there is always the potential for an error in our defense when they are pressed, not as bad as liverpool but Cahill has shown this twice already this season.

Edited November 11, 20169 yr by PedroMendez

Seriously though I fear for us after international break. We weren't as good the previous one before this but were building some momentum and stuttered afterwards. I hope we don't experience same.

I would play a 4-5-1 with a sitting anchor man to prevent players like Hazard from cutting in. I'd also play a strong, energetic midfielder to cut out midfielders from exploiting space while using the third midfielder to sit slightly ahead of the ball-winning midfielder to link attacks together. I would target Matic as a weakness in midfield, and also try to quickly close down Kante because he struggles to pass sometimes. A strong pacey target man needs to play up top that could knock the balls down. I'd play the wingers very high up the pitch almost next to the striker to exploit the space behind the striker. This requires very pacey wingers because Cahill isn't the fastest. I'd press Luiz because he may have some errors in him. Those wingers could also exploit the space left behind by the full backs. In defense, I would play full backs that operate almost like wingbacks that are in line with the anchorman in the middle. 

Basically playing a medium block defensive line. The key for this tactic to succeed revolves around the pacey wingers and getting the ball forward as fast as possible. 

Playing once a week the formation will be hard to play against, with the stamina of Moses and Alonso we have an extra man in defense and attack. More depth in those positions is vital in the summer, Antonio always made a change in that position in play at the Euro's, with European football hopefully back next season we need four potentially five quality options for that position.

The fixture I'm most worried about in the distance future is WHL, going there at the end of a grueling Christmas schedule could be a tough baptism of fire.

Offence? Long ball.. constant long ball to our penalty box.. Luiz would break eventually, azpi, kante and even matic are not that good in the air..

 

Defence? crowding the penalty box area and the rest focus on hazard..

I'd probably go for a 4-3-3. High energy midfielders with positional discipline to keep us from running the midfield while also stifling the space in which Hazard and Pedro receive the ball. Play two quick tricky wingers and have fullbacks always overlapping; feed the ball out wide at every opportunity and allow them to create overloads against our wingbacks. Put crosses into a big striker at the back post vs Cesar.

I think beating Chelsea will have more to do with the players the opposition have than the tactics. Expect City, Tottenham and Liverpool to give us quite a test. 

attack from right wing - after cross to far post, or pass it back somewhere outside of the box to 15-20 meters mark and bang it.

describing why - Alonso a bit shaky in defence, so attack right. Azpi and Mozes are not that great in winning headers especially if a target man is tall, since Matic is trying to help Alonso to cover the flank he leaves his position vulnerable - passing the ball to this position creates a chance to shoot from far. 

4-3-3 can do this, but also quality players is a must.