- 49 minutes ago
Chelsea are through to the final of the Club World Cup with a comfortable 2-0 with over Fluminense. But in a tournament where players are visibly wilting in the heat, Enzo Maresca deployed an ambitious tactical system that allowed to both retain the ball and break at pace. Adam Clery explains how it works, why he used it and if we might see it in the Premier League
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00:00Hello there friends, welcome to the Adam Cleary football channel, of course making me Adam Cleary
00:04and Chelsea are through to the club world cup final with the single best performance
00:10I've seen at the MetLife since Becky Lynch won that Wrestlemania main event. Do you have a life
00:16outside of football? Anyway, as well as just getting through to the final, which is obviously
00:20quite the accomplishment, this game was also interesting because Enzo Mareska unleashed
00:26the lesser spotted 3-1-6 system and I think you might see that in the Premier League next
00:33season when he's feeling particularly brave. So shall we have a little look at it? Well
00:40I mean you've clicked on the video now, haven't you? So we're gonna have to.
00:45Right then, before we begin, my contractually obligated reminder to you that all of our club
00:50world cup coverage is brought to you in partnership with our in real life personal friends slash
00:55broadcast overlords DAZN. And you can watch every single game in the club world cup including
01:02the second semi-final and the final absolutely free by clicking the link in the description and
01:07if you're thinking that's a really good offer, how often do you get free football, but I am finding
01:12the branding a little bit on the nose, then just be thankful I'm not wearing the hat as well,
01:18even though it is a nice hat. Anyway, yes, did he really say 3-1-6 because surely that's not
01:23an
01:23actual formation and I watched the game and at the start it said they were in this 4-2-3
01:28-1 and yes,
01:29it actually is, although technically it's more of a 3-1-3-3. So Chelsea start like this and indeed
01:37when they're off the ball and they're defending, it's kind of the same except you end up with sort
01:40of more of a 4-4-2 and the way the shape materialises is that we had Malé Gusteau playing
01:46all the way up on this side. The rest of the defence shuffle across into this back three,
01:50so Marc Cucurea is not doing his fun inverting as a 10-trick, he's playing as a left side centre
01:54back. Moises Caicedo had the pivot largely all to himself, then three players in the gap between
02:01midfield and defence. You had Enzo Fernandes on the left, Cole Palm in the middle and Cristofone
02:05Kunku slightly more inside and then up front, stretched right across the width of the pitch,
02:10you had Pedro Neto, who was brilliant in this game, João Pedro, who was brilliant in this game
02:14and Malé Gusteau, who we've already mentioned. So technically, yes, a 3-1-6, but when you look at
02:20it this way, it is a 3-1-3-3 and yes, absolutely bang on, just like Marco Bielsa used
02:27with Chile in
02:28the 2010 World Cup. Aren't we all a load of massive virgins? And in case you're wondering why people
02:33call it a 3-1-6 when it's clearly a 3-1-3-3, it's because A, it just sounds
02:39a little bit neater,
02:39doesn't it? And B, 3-1-6 sounds really scary, like six players up front. Now we'll get into how
02:47this
02:47functions and why you play this many players up this end of the pitch, but before we do,
02:51it would be remiss of me not to point out that systems like this only work if you have an
02:56absolute
02:57maniac sitting at the base of the midfield on his own. Because first off, they need to be able to
03:02cover so much ground as to basically make up for the fact there should be another body in there,
03:07and they also need to win almost all the duels they go in for. If they go in for a
03:13tackle and
03:13miss it, you've got a 3-0-6, which obviously puts you in loads of trouble, and Moises Caicedo
03:19is about as perfect a player as you could envisage to play this role. He was monstrous in this game,
03:26and without him, it all falls apart. But the reason that I said he was playing this position
03:31mostly on his own is because the whole way this system works is by having so many different players
03:37occupying different zones in this part of the pitch. You have a very high number of options
03:42for who then drops out and joins him, who moves away from the defenders, who tries to find a bit
03:48of space. You can constantly rotate that, change it around, push, probe, prod, and find where the
03:54holes should be. I really meant to say gaps there, not holes. Holes has a vibe. But what I thought
04:02was
04:02particularly brave about the way Enzo Morescu did this is if you're starting with a back four and
04:06you're moving to a system like this where you'll end up having a back three, you've got to take one
04:10of the defenders and put them further up the pitch. And what you'd expect to see with everybody, not
04:15only Chelsea, is that one of the fullbacks ends up in one of these three positions. Mark Kukurea could
04:21have played there very easily. But what that means is you've got a fullback doing a job in these sorts
04:28of positions. But Chelsea didn't have that. They were so brave with their starting 11. They used
04:32Malle Gusto as one of the wide players, who was very good at running up and down the wing. And
04:36it
04:36gave them three players who were all absolute naturals off the striker and in the centre of
04:43the pitch. I thought it was the best I've seen of Nkunku in a Chelsea shirt ever. And you combine
04:47that with Pedro Neto on the other side, who is probably my man of the match in this game. I
04:52just
04:52really have enjoyed watching him in this tournament. And you've got two players stretching the defence
04:57who are both excellent 1v1, who want to isolate defenders. And then these four, all in this nice
05:04stretched area, and they're all free to drop and go pretty much anywhere they like to get on the ball
05:10or to make things happen. And it meant across the game, you constantly saw different players dropping
05:16deep into the midfield and getting on the ball. And it meant that Fluminese, who would set up in a
05:21low block specifically to frustrate Chelsea and restrict the space, were constantly faced with the
05:27same question in different parts of the pitch. Because they had set up with a back three, again
05:32designed to restrict the amount of space Chelsea were getting, it meant that the wide players for
05:37Chelsea were pinning the wing backs all the way into the defensive line. Meaning that the two central
05:42midfielders, Hercules and, not Bernard, what was it? Bernal, that was his name, were constantly
05:48outnumbered by these three Chelsea players and had to continually decide whether to go with them
05:55when they dropped or whether to stay in their position and allow them free reign on the ball.
06:00And what was honestly so fun to watch about this Chelsea performance was how many times
06:04they changed the approach. Like if Enzo Fernandes dropped, yeah, you probably do want to go with
06:08him because he's very good on the ball in deeper areas. But that left a little bit of space for
06:12Cole Palmer. So the centre-back, does he have to step out? They weren't really sure what to do.
06:16But then the next time they get it, it was Palmer dropping. So now which midfielder goes? Do you go
06:22with
06:22him? Do you want to leave all this extra space? And by the time they'd figure that out,
06:26João Pedro would just drop as well. So these two would be like, well, we can't leave it at three
06:30v1. We can't have the centre-backs come all the way out. And they just constantly changed the
06:35approach. They changed the angle of attack. And it was brilliant. And as you no doubt noticed from
06:42how many times Pedro Neto seemed to get one-on-one with the wing back, these five were so focused
06:48in the
06:48centre of the pitch, trying to match the movement that left the wide spaces absolutely wide open.
06:54This is, I think, what Maresca Ball is supposed to be. And it was such a brave selection, it made
07:00it
07:00look terrifying. But my friends, the other main advantage to playing a system like this in New
07:08Jersey, when it's 36 degrees, is it's actually really good at helping you conserve your energy.
07:15You are spreading the workload of constantly dropping away from the forward line, attacking
07:20into the space, covering large distances, trying to manipulate the opposition defence across four
07:26players. When in like 4-2-3-1, for example, you probably only have the number 10 doing it. That's
07:32an enormous ask for one player. It's obviously much less of an ask for four. And I know that on
07:37paper,
07:38or in this case, a nicely printed neoprene mat, it looks like an insanely attacking and aggressive way
07:44to play football. But it's actually really good at helping you retain the ball, at dominating across
07:48all the different thirds. It's more akin to that patient, methodical style that Enzo Maresca wants.
07:56But I know exactly what you're thinking, right? If there's such a methodical and clever way to play
08:00football, Adam, why were both of Chelsea's goals in transition? They were like both basically just
08:06counterattacks where you break at pace. And that's the point. It allows you to retain your energy,
08:12to counterpress and break better, especially in that heat. While there were points in the game
08:18where Chelsea did press really high, by and large, they were quite happy to sit in the middle of the
08:23midfield, drop into a 4-2-2 or a 4-2-3-1, and allow Fluminese out in order to
08:29create space at the
08:30back. Like take the first goal, for example. Chelsea are just sat in the mid-block and João Pedro applies
08:35a bit of pressure down the side, forcing Fluminese to give a bit of a loose pass that João Pedro
08:40was
08:41capable of dropping onto and putting him away. And now obviously the finish is absolutely class,
08:46but I think you can see here why Chelsea will probably play Pedro with De Lapp in the long run
08:52rather than instead of him. Because Neto's going to put a cross in here and there is nobody,
08:58there's nobody there. This is actually a bad decision. That is an empty box and they're a little
09:04bit fortuitous, I would say, with the fact the clearance goes straight out to João Pedro, who,
09:09if you remember, we just did a full video on João Pedro, what's the position he really likes to be
09:13in
09:14just outside the box on this left-hand side. Do I still have the heat map? I'm going to pretend
09:19it's
09:19there, even if it's not, this is the area he likes to be in and that was the area he
09:23received the ball
09:23in. Now it's a lovely goal, but if I was personally so concerned about showing respect to my previous
09:30team that I didn't celebrate, I would just simply not absolutely twat the ball into the net when I was
09:35playing them. Twice. And on the second one here, it's another turnover, it's another break. Chelsea
09:41have really well conserved the energy by not being too aggressive and being happy to sit off
09:45and then breaking a pace when the space does finally open up. And obviously there's nothing
09:51fortunate about this goal. Pedro just simply waltzes into the box like he's playing his nephews at some
09:56sort of family barbecue and wellies it in off the crossbar. Another lovely goal. And inevitably what
10:02that meant with a two goal lead in that heat, Chelsea could be even less aggressive and could
10:07even better conserve their energy and invite Fluminese out even more. And it did feel like
10:12they'd get a third, possibly even get a fourth in this game, but two nil it finished and into the
10:18final they go. So small claps from me. And just to go back to the formation, which I do think
10:23is a
10:24major reason for the quality of this performance. I'm not normally one for average position graphs these
10:30days, but I do think this one is pretty funny. Now, one of the many talking points we're not
10:36focusing on in this video is that while Cucurea was playing as the third centre back in the back
10:40three, he was also jumping up really high when they did press. He was sort of in this area doing
10:44that. So that sort of drags him slightly further away than you'd expect. So just mentally account
10:49for that. But you can see Caicedo essentially on his own in the centre of the pitch. Malagusta was
10:54obviously not as high as Neto because he did have some defending to do when they were in a back
10:58four.
10:58So that drags him around a bit. But largely, you can see the two wide players standing on their
11:03own. Four attacking players who were given so much freedom and were covering so much ground,
11:07they all average out at more or less the exact same spot on the pitch. And obviously, the reason
11:14I think that's funny is because I'm deeply weird. Good point. But also, even though they're in the
11:19same position, they all had very different games. João Pedro's heat map shows that he was floating
11:25around so much. He had as many touches in his own half as he did in the opposition box,
11:29but he was popping up all over the midfield to do little bits of link-up play like he did
11:33with the
11:34first goal and otherwise confuse the defence. Cole Palmer was finding it absolutely everywhere. I
11:39really enjoyed his performance. Enzo Fernandes was really good, but favoured this left-hand channel
11:44absolutely loads. And Nkunku was really good and favoured this right-hand channel absolutely loads.
11:50So all in all, this is a really fun, adventurous system that allows you to counter-attack at pace,
11:56but does also give you really good game control. And, most fun of all, gives four incredibly good
12:03attacking players almost carte blanche to go where they want and do what they want. And that makes
12:10it unpredictable. So if you're trying to defend it and low-block it, it's really hard. And I do,
12:15I think we will see this in the Premier League with Chelsea next season,
12:19when they're feeling particularly brave. Because while it's obviously giving you loads of options
12:23and there's loads of cool stuff you can do with it, the amount of space and room it leaves you
12:27in
12:27behind is bananas. So they'll have to be careful with it. But yes, that's it for today. Showing
12:34you a new formation. How fun is that for me? If you've enjoyed it, let me know in the comments
12:39below. And of course, don't forget to like the video, share the video, subscribe to the channel if
12:43you haven't already. And a reminder, you can watch every single game in the Club World Cup,
12:47both of them, for free on DAZN by clicking the link in the description. Thank you, DAZN pals.
12:53This has been fun again. You can follow me across all the social medias at Adam Cleary,
12:58C-L-E-R-Y. And do I think Chelsea will now go all the way and win the Club
13:02World Cup? Well,
13:03to quote a legend of the club, I prefer not to speak. I prefer not to speak. If I speak,
13:12big trouble, big trouble. So goodbye.