Why Marc Cucurella Has Just Fixed Chelsea
It was Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham in the London derby, with Mauricio Pochettino's side's late run for a European place showing no signs of slowing down. But despite the absence of Enzo Fernandez in the middle of the pitch, The Blues looked as comfortable and as confident through the middle as they have all season. The reason? A brand new role for Marc Cucurella, and one he could thrive in long-term.
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00:00All right so the billion pound bottle bank looked something like this last
00:04night and yeah that's really good for Alfie Gilchrist, yay well done, always
00:07like to see somebody make a debut but other than that about as you'd expect
00:10except obviously there has been some concern at the club because Enzo
00:15Fernandez, an integral part of their season, a very important player, someone they spent
00:19a lot of money on, he's now out for the season so could that derail their
00:25campaign? Well no as it turns out it might actually be the best thing that
00:31could have possibly happened and this is kind of gonna be the crux of this video
00:37by the way because Enzo Fernandez is a wonderful wonderful player he could go
00:42to any manner of top European clubs and look worth every single penny Chelsea
00:47paid for him but there is an opinion a thought this is brewing a seed that has
00:52been planted in this head in particular that the way Chelsea play what Mauricio
00:57Pochettino wants him to do is not particularly well suited to what he does
01:03and long-term subscribers to the channel will know that we have discussed this
01:06several times this season when trying to understand quite why this Chelsea team
01:10wasn't working the problem basically boils down to Fernandez in this position
01:15and Conor Gallagher in this position two wonderful very talented very important
01:20players but neither really where they need to be now Chelsea when they're
01:25building up from the back like to push their full backs on nice and far forward
01:29then the two center backs they split nice and wide the goalkeeper stands
01:33between them and then Caicedo and Fernandez act as this double pivot to
01:37give them loads of nice little passing angles problem number one with this is
01:41that Enzo Fernandez really wants to be on the ball in the opposition's half
01:45rather than his own but he's the only one in this setup really capable of an
01:49incisive forward pass so he needs to be here and that will isolate Conor Gallagher
01:54he can't really be receiving it when he's marked by one or two players that's
01:58not his game and we talked about this a lot on the channel you will see
02:01Fernandez just instinctively moving further and further up the pitch to try
02:05and do something more aggressive but that leaves Caicedo completely isolated
02:09and against teams where they've got two players in this area Chelsea simply
02:14can't find him with the ball while they're knocking it around the back and
02:17they just horseshoe it around these five getting absolutely nowhere now the
02:21logical thing to do would just be swap Fernandez and Gallagher around have your
02:25player who wants to be in the final third there and your workhorse more in
02:28the middle but Chelsea are a very very high pressing side for all the things
02:32that haven't really worked for them this year they do have like the third lowest
02:36passes per defensive action which you've not heard that term just basically means
02:40like how much you let the opposition do before you'll just try and win it back
02:44like how aggressive you are when the opposition on the ball Chelsea are
02:48incredibly aggressive and for all he has his critics if you look at Connor
02:51Gallagher's numbers in the Premier League this season for harassing the
02:55opposition for winning the ball back higher for creating chances out of this
02:59level of pressure he's arguably one of if not the best players in the whole
03:03league at doing he's actually had for me quietly a really good season like this
03:08but problem number two with this and arguably the biggest one is that this
03:11works great when the opposition have the ball but when Chelsea do when the
03:16opposition are defending it means that their number 10 the player who sort of
03:19like in the most creative position possible is somebody who isn't
03:23particularly creative he's stuck all the way back here but then last night when
03:28watching Chelsea put Tottenham to the proverbial sword none of these problems
03:32looked like they existed Chelsea were moving it through the thirds confidently
03:36they were building out really well but also look to have more options and more
03:40creativity in the final third why well to put it simply welcome to the very
03:48exciting world of inverted fullbacks mr. Mark Cucaracha now will stress this
03:54wasn't his first time doing it this is an experiment that has been bubbling but
03:57last night against Spurs it looked like he'd made that inverted left-back role
04:02all his own without Fernandez in the side Palmer then takes up the role of
04:06one of the double pivots and one of Chelsea's more attacking players fills
04:09in for him in the 10 position and if you sat there thinking all this better
04:13not be another one of those bloody box midfields I've heard so much about them
04:17this season actually no Pochettino put a really really interesting twist on it
04:23which we'll get to after the Cucaracha height when Chelsea were in possession
04:27Gallagher would then move back to his usual number 10 position where we can
04:31parry and press and win the ball back if they lose it and Cucaracha was coming
04:34and sitting as the other midfielder with the defense shuffling along in behind
04:39him but rather than using this the way like Arteta and Pep do so it gives them
04:43four players in the middle to outnumber the opposition three Chelsea was sort of
04:47taking advantage of the fact they had a spare body in the final third by just
04:51having Palmer and Manduike both play on the right-hand side but this
04:55basically gave Chelsea this abnormal sort of shape right and just this is
05:00Cucaracha's heat map from the game and his pass map from the game that is just
05:05if a space alien landed and said what does an inverted fullback do this that
05:11they they do this they don't do hardly anything here where you'd expect them to
05:15and they get all around the midfield being that extra body now this is just
05:19like one random freeze frame I think from like the 20th minute or something
05:22but it does just sort of show how this enabled so many of Chelsea's players to
05:27do things they don't normally get to do but like to do so first off you can see
05:31that because Cucaracha isn't on this space on the left and obviously the
05:34centre-backs aren't gonna bomb up unnecessarily
05:36Mudrick could then drop much deeper to receive the ball and then be able to
05:42turn and face the opposition like the guy needs space to run into like him
05:46going on mazes in the final third never ever worked but if you can get a gap
05:51behind the defender he absolutely loves that and because he's pretty much got
05:55the entire left side to himself it's very easy to make that happen
05:58Conor Gallagher's pushed himself into the forward line and is now just sort of
06:00floating from left to right finding all the space sort of working the gaps
06:04pulling the opposition round that's another really good element of his game
06:07and while Madhu Eke is getting chalk on his boots all the way over here
06:11Palmer's not interested in coming near or forming a box he's gonna play on
06:16that side as well which gave Chelsea like a really just bizarre natural
06:21overload in that right-sided area and if you just think that's like that's a
06:25really selective image I've picked maybe Palmer was actually playing as the 10
06:28all along right this is this is Madhu Eke's heat map from that game yeah
06:32absolutely you would guess that he was the right-sided attacker and he is Cole
06:38Palmer's like it wasn't even really that they were taking turns with it or like
06:41interchanging or doing rotations they basically just both went and stood out
06:46there and then every time they got the ball just ran into the center of the
06:50pitch with it it's just it's one of those things that just seems so simple
06:55doesn't it like how do you create an overload in one of Tottenham's weaker
06:57areas just just play two players there anyway yes so Cucaracha right it can
07:02obviously be a bit of a risk throwing any kind of fullback into these areas
07:06that's why not every single team is doing it requires a very certain person
07:10you need to still be dogged read the game very well a good passes a lot of
07:15moving parts required for this not to be a disaster but the guy has to quote the
07:19youth of the day got that dog in him he had nine ground duels last night against
07:25much bigger players than him and he won all nine of them like he was not
07:30bullied in the center at all he was seemingly never caught a position doing
07:34it either like every time Spurs won the ball back he was moving from there back
07:38into the left back area but dovetailing it perfectly with Gallagher getting back
07:42into the pivot like at no point was there ever an enormous gap from where
07:46Gallagher was caught high up and he'd already moved back they did it perfectly
07:49one thing it's really important to say with this is he is not suddenly a better
07:54player than Enzo Fernandez like if you look at his pass map there's very few of
07:58them that are forwards when he gets into that area he's normally just there to be
08:02an extra body to sort of provide a bounce pass for somebody he's not
08:05getting on it turning and opening up defenses but that's because simply he's
08:10a very very different player to Fernandez but Fernandez wants to have
08:13control possession and pick his passes Kukerea is not gonna do that he's got
08:17energy and determination he was making the kind of runs from that position last
08:22night that you would simply never ever see Fernandez do there was two here in
08:26particular that caught my eye first off Kukerea has moved into the middle
08:29they've got a nice little triangle going on with Gallagher sort of coming across
08:33and Mudrick being deep on that left side as we have discussed the ball is
08:37launched up the left-hand channel Nicholas Jackson runs onto it but has
08:40virtually no support whatsoever now obviously the attackers on the far side
08:44they join in they want a goal Connor Gallagher joins in because his work rate
08:48is simply beyond question but also Kukerea despite being one of the sitting
08:53midfielders not really his job in this scenario to provide attacking support
08:58recognizes the space recognizes the opportunity makes a long bursting run to
09:03get on the overlap to Jackson who now that he's dribbled into the box still
09:07doesn't have a pass on so Kukerea creates an attempt there creates a
09:12chance out of what otherwise would not have been one and this one as well I
09:17thought was really interesting like Mudrick has the ball here but it's not
09:19really anything going on in front of him his next pass is likely gonna be
09:23sideways or backwards but seeing that Connor Gallagher has attracted the
09:27attention of two Tottenham defenders thus creating this little gap Kukerea
09:32just thinks ah do you know what I'm just I'm gonna go for it maybe something will
09:36happen and it does he bursts into that space Mudrick finds him with the pass
09:39and he's very unlucky not to get a cut back and create an opportunity for
09:43Chelsea and the thing is neither of these two runs are brilliant or require
09:49any kind of technical excellence like Fernandez has but also they're not the
09:54kind of runs you'd ever be likely to see him make like just the energy and the
09:59determination he's brought to that position is game-changing and quite
10:04conveniently for anyone who I don't know may or may not be making a YouTube video
10:08about it today this did also literally change the game in fact it won it 70
10:14minutes have elapsed Tottenham have been much better in the second half it
10:17probably feels like a goal is coming for them sooner rather than later and
10:21Kukerea is still inverting into the middle here he receives the ball
10:25actually closer to the right hand channel than anywhere else now we could
10:29keep that ball moving from left to right he could do several very safe things
10:33with it but he just sees the Gallagher's got a little bit more room than Tottenham
10:37should really be affording him and he tries to make the line-breaking killer
10:40forward pass now Gallagher's touch is bad but I just want to make sure this
10:44doesn't go unnoticed Kukerea has not stood there and merely admired his work
10:49because I'm out of position I don't really know what to do he has followed
10:53that pass in which just leaves him a couple of yards closer to that loose
10:57ball than he would otherwise have been and because a he is those couple of
11:01yards closer and be as mentioned dog within him it is he beats Kulishevsky
11:06to that ball and he wins a foul in like position a1 and the thing is right and I
11:12think if I was a Chelsea fan this would be the bit I was most pleased with right
11:15those off the ball runs and just that sort of tidy play that's not really very
11:20Fernandez like you are definitely losing something by not having him in the team
11:24but this bit here the forward pass and the position he takes up and the
11:28determination to just get on that loose ball that is quite Fernandez like so
11:33maybe you're not losing as much as you might think but yes from there Chelsea
11:37score they go on and win the game they'd look really comfortable Tottenham barely
11:41threatened in what's left of the match and I think Pochettino may really have
11:47stumbled across something great with this but what is and I'm just gonna say
11:51this is weird as possible I don't know why the really interesting thing for me
11:55personally right is that unlike the situation you've got at Arsenal where a
11:59tether has to decide between putting some chenko in there because he's good
12:02on the ball but he's also a bit like piss-weak in the tackle or putting
12:06Kiwi or in there because he's a big boy and isn't gonna get bullied but won't do
12:10anything with it when he actually gets the ball
12:12kukure kind of offers you more than a little bit of both like these passes are
12:17very good and show ambition and bravery as well but if we just get rid of these
12:22and show you his defensive contribution against Spurs as well like he's not
12:26getting caught here like when they need him to be in this correct position he's
12:31contributing and I don't really remember Spurs having anything down that
12:35side last night given that they should have because the left back wasn't there
12:39now we'll just say this is not like unreserved praise everything is not
12:43magical and wonderful and fixed forever next season you can't just bin Fernandes
12:47out of that position because suddenly your left back is pretty good in there
12:51and there will be games where he's in that midfield area up against far more
12:56experienced players who just like figure him out and completely pull his pants
13:01down but for now last night especially I thought he was excellent excellent in
13:07that role so yes mark kukure you've got a cool name you've got a cool song
13:12you've got the exact same hair as my friend Florence just well done mate here
13:17are your flowers but wait very very important the subscribe button it is not
13:21just something youtubers reference because we're on some kind of demented
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13:37videos pretty much every single day we've got think of all the tactical
13:40breakdowns we're gonna have during the euro think of all the times you're gonna
13:44be in the pub and you might have something interesting to say that you've
13:47just lifted wholesale from me it will pay for itself even though it's free so
13:52yes do hit that but also we would love to know your thoughts on the market
13:57raises a system Chelsea can persist with and bigger question if you are a
14:00Chelsea fan or even if you're not you put spot you Tino next year you're
14:05happy about that you're confident about that he has turned it around for you yes
14:08no discussions thoughts feelings all welcome in the comments below you can
14:11grab me on the socials to tell me there at Adam Cleary see oh there it is Adam
14:16Cleary see l-e-r-y for for two soldiers in the corner of the video oh it's the
14:20old mark I need to go the new ones out I need to go and get that for you it's the
14:23euros preview edition but this may still be somewhere go Emma go buy either of
14:27them doesn't matter which all good bookstores retailers newsagents paper
14:31shops etc anyway yes that's it go go enjoy your weekend now there's
14:35absolutely loads of football on so you'll be able to watch some of that and
14:38I will see you back here on Monday because to quote to the cock destroyers
14:43it may be a bank holiday but not for me
14:53I need a pint