Wolverhampton 2-5 Chelsea: 3 reasons why the 3-man defence is the best formation for Lampard's squad
It's a brand new start to another era for Chelsea Football Club as most of the players from the past decade have either retired or departed the Blues resulting in a total revamp of the squad, led by legendary player-turned-coach Frank Lampard.
While Chelsea's attack has been absolutely brilliant in this season's first five games, the defence has not been at its best every weekend.
Chelsea currently have their academy players in both the attacking and defensive areas of the pitch, with Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori breaking into the first team this season. It is also the result of the transfer ban that the Londoners were hit with over the summer window.
There has been no shortage of goals scored in the Chelsea books this season, but on the other hand, the squad has been conceding goals which has led to them dropping points in some must-win games.
To tackle this situation, Lampard switched to a three-man defence this past weekend, and it proved to be successful as his men clinched a 5-2 away victory against Wolves at the Molineux.
Though both goals conceded in the fixture were sloppy too, Chelsea looked very much better than the previous matches for almost 80% of the game on Saturday. Lampard and his backroom staff must have definitely come out with a lot of positives from the game.
Analyzing the current breed of players in the team, the options as well as squad depth available to Lampard, we take a look at the three reasons why the 3-man defence may just be the answer to all of the problems that Chelsea are going through right now.
#3 Best use of ageing full-backs
In a league where most of the top 6 teams have the best full-back duos in the whole of Europe, Chelsea may be a little unfortunate in that part of the pitch.
Both of Chelsea's first team full-backs for the past 3-4 seasons - Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso - have had a downfall in their performances since November of last year, and that has led to the Blues conceding a lot of goals being set up by the opposition from the flanks.
Academy graduate Reece James, who is recovering from an injury for his Premier League debut, might be the answer to Azpiliceuta's dipping form. But the youngster lacks experience and as Lampard said over the weekend, Chelsea cannot survive just on the youth's shoulders this season.
The three-man defence allows Alonso and Azpilicueta to contribute more to the attacking part of the game and takes off some defensive responsibilities. This is a great switch of profile for these players who are still one of the best attacking full-back pairings in the league especially with their overlapping style of play.