Four mistakes Chelsea must avoid when facing Schalke tonight
“I made 11 mistakes, 11 mistakes. I should have picked another 11 and not this one. I made 11 mistakes. It’s the feeling I have,” said Jose Mourinho after Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat against Newcastle at the weekend.
Of course, this is an exaggeration from an extremely disappointed and angry coach, who had seen his side knock lead leaders Arsenal out of the Capital One Cup just three days earlier. The result in the North-East has thrown doubts over this Chelsea team as they look to avoid dropping out of the title race in November yet again. Luckily for the Blues, some of the teams around them dropped points too, which means they still sit second in the league but they can’t afford any more performances such as this.
Let’s take a look at where it all went wrong for Chelsea and how will they look to improve against Schalke in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Alan Pardew set up to stifle the Chelsea threat through the centre of the pitch with a narrow 4-4-2 formation which contained no recognised wingers. Moussa Sissoko and Yoann Gouffran filled the wide positions as they look to stop the creativity of Chelsea’s midfield and hit them on the counter attack. A look at Newcastle’s heat map shows how deep they were set up.
Chelsea struggled to break down Newcastle’s well-oiled unit, rarely making it into their final third of the pitch.
This pattern was evident throughout the game as the Blues struggled for ideas. Their central playmaker, Juan Mata, who was so impressive against Arsenal, was forced to drop in-front of the Newcastle midfield to pick up possession regularly before being substituted just after the hour. He only completed three passes in Newcastle’s final third with two of them being from corners.
Eden Hazard was Chelsea’s only natural winger in their starting line-up but he attempted to break Newcastle down centrally on a regular basis instead of exploiting the lack of width in their opponents’ team. However, he was the most successful of Chelsea’s midfielders, winning six take-ons, but he did not manage a shot on target due to the Geordies willingness to stop him getting a shot off when he got into advanced areas.
Another problem for Chelsea was that their full-backs failed at supporting their sides’ attacks efficiently, giving them even fewer options when in possession.
It was a tremendous team display from Newcastle as they managed to break up play in deep areas on a regular basis. They managed 19 interceptions, with 16 of them coming within their own half.
Cheick Tiote and Yohan Cabaye forged a brilliant midfield partnership and were able to protect their centre-backs expertly. The Frenchman showed glimpses of his best, regularly feeding the strikers with precise balls to feet, giving them the chance to hold the ball up. He also provided the assist for Gouffran’s opener.
However, it was Gouffran and Sissoko’s partnerships with their full-backs, Davide Santon and Mathieu Debuchy that stood out the most. Gouffran managed four interceptions and was very protective of Santon with the threat of Oscar in mind.
On the other side, Debuchy and Sissoko forced Hazard to maraud across the pitch looking for space. This meant that Chelsea were extremely one-dimensional with their passing, only making six key passes in the match with five of them coming from the right-wing.
With Newcastle stifling Chelsea’s creative threat and the Blues’ midfield fully focussed on breaking their opponents down, the lack of a natural holding midfielder showed again as the Geordies were able to find their strikers with direct balls regularly. It also meant that Chelsea often used centre-back David Luiz as their playmaker from deep areas as all their creative outlets were tied up by Newcastle midfielders swarming around them.
Loic Remy was able to exploit the Blues on the break, making three key passes and finishing the game off with a goal. Look at how often he was able to release a pass in the Chelsea half.
On the other hand, Chelsea’s strikers, Fernando Torres and Samuel Eto’o only managed to complete five passes between them in the whole 90 minutes which just shows how difficult they found it to play through the middle of Newcastle.
At least Chelsea have the resources to make changes with players such as Willian and Andre Schurrle waiting in the wings. Mourinho could make 11 changes against Schalke if he wanted to and whilst that is highly unlikely, there is no doubt his Chelsea side will be looking to improve on their build-up play in the game after their mediocre display at the weekend.