"Top of the table clash"
"Master v Apprentice"
"Possible Title Contenders"
"London Derby"
The titles could hardly be bigger for this game. A massive one for both clubs, each manager and set of players would want bragging rights and to be seen seriously for the title challenge
Mourinho is a wily old fox and it can be hard to predict exactly how he could play on Sunday but we can analyze based on what he has previously done in big games and games against us.
Mourinho teams typically plays without much possession, they focus on what they can do when they have the ball instead. and try to limit the opposition they play against. Why his teams loves counter attacks so much.
They can play slightly more expensive if they want to because they have the quality. But Mourinho tends to concede possession to those teams that love to have it and uses transitions to create chances for themselves.
Spurs had only 4 shots and 2 shots on target against Mancity.
This their line up against Mancity and how they ideally they could go against Chelsea, formation wise. Except for the injured Alderweireld.
So there are 2 ways Mourinho could go against us
Mourinho parks the bus , allows Chelsea have possession , Kane drops deep, Son and Bergwin/Lucas/Bale get in behind for Kane or Ndombele to find them. and try to exploit the gaps Chilwell and Reece leave behind.
To counter this, Kante would be very key to stopping Kane from getting time on the ball. and snuffing out counter-attacks. like I said in the Newcastle preview Lampard has done well in cutting out counter-attack goals. This is literally the biggest test of that resolve.
Spurs are currently the best counter-attacking team in the country.
For that believe Lampard is aware of it and won't pour men forward as much as he usually does. he did mention It in his presser
"I am aware of their threat on the counter with Kane and Son and we aren't an overly attacking team or defensive team and we seem to be more balanced "
didn't match him word for word but you get the point.
Another way Mourinho can play us is pressing our midfield. Mourinho did this when he was down 1 - nil against Chelsea in the carabao cup tie. The midfield we had was Jovacic. They wilted under the pressure and had difficulties connecting defence and attack
That won't be the case anymore because Chelsea now use a 433 and connect defence to attack seamlessly. The 8's (Mount especially) combined with the full-backs help us to move play better. And to also counter act this. Chelsea use more long balls to bypass opposition press
like i said in my How Lampard wants to play thread. Tammy dropping, Timo, Kova and Mount in behind and Reece and Ziyech out wide give Chelsea options to progress play through long balls
https://t.co/SuJWY3UVo2
One Area Chelsea can look to hurt Spurs in on their flanks. when Spurs defend deep because they need bodies on the counter. their wingers hardly help with defending opposition fullbacks. they are instead ready for counters by being in front of Kane many times
Notice how narrow Spurs's defending is and notice how the Wingers aren't tracking anyone on the wings like Lampard like his wingers to defend. which could allow space for RJ and Ziyech cause we like to attack wide
notice how high Berwgin and Son are positioned. it was fairly easy for Spurs to defend city since most of their attacks come from the middle. While Chelsea has different ways of hurting spurs, out wide is our main focus of attacks. Especially the right side of Ziyech and RJ.
Expect Mourinho to know this and double reinforcements on that flank to prevent them from playing, cause that's what he does. Which will create spaces for others. So Lampard can now variate his attack more and use the 8's to cause Spurs problems with Mount and Kovacic making runs
and linking up with the wingers and Tammy. city used that to cause Spurs loads of problems in the first half using combinations between Jesus, Debruyne, silva and Cancelo and almost scored though it at times if not for Jesus blocking Debruyne's shot.
one very good way to stop Spurs from counter attacking is our counter-pressing. we are getting better at it. and noticed it in our Newcastle game. It has to be high intense to try to stop spurs. and I believe Lampard will try to leave at least 1 more man behind
In this kind of Game, its paramount that we take our chances and stop being wasteful, even though we can create tons. Get an early goal and help spurs open up and we ourselves can go on counter and with the pace of Werner, Abraham, we can cause problems.
So Werner bring your shooting boots tomorrow lad...
Son and Kane only need a half-chance to score, Son is the best finisher in Europe. So the experience of Silva and the partnership of Zouma and SIlva will be key.
The hope is that we do what we can to bring him the 3 points against a top oppostion.
End of thread
likes, Rts and your thoughts deeply appreciated.
thank you
