- 3 minutes ago
Morgan Rogers has joined Chelsea, but what does this mean tactically? We break down how he fits perfectly into Xabi Alonso's famous 3-4-3 system, recreating the 'double 10' role and unlocking the very best of Cole Palmer.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Morgan Rodgers has joined Chelsea for a record fee but this signing is worth so much more than
00:05a lot of cash. From recreating Alonso's double tens at Leverkusen, bringing trades that Chelsea
00:11seriously like and getting Cole Palmer back to his very best. I'm Jacob Horsfall, 442's resident
00:17tactician and this is why Morgan Rodgers is the perfect signing for Xavi Alonso's Chelsea.
00:29To understand the impact of Rodgers signing for Chelsea, we first got to understand the
00:33basic principles of Alonso's football. The 343 formation is tagged to Alonso's name,
00:39both attacking wingers operate extremely narrow and act as two tens, with the wing backs taking
00:43up true winger positions. This creates a front line of five and allows them to pin the opposition's
00:49defense extremely narrow, opening up those wide flanks which then pull the opposition's defense
00:54wide, opening up the space for the cutback to those narrow front three players. Now at the moment,
00:59without Morgan Rodgers, I don't think Chelsea have the profiles to play in that way. Giovanni
01:04Quenda and Rhys James operate as the wing backs feels right. Quenda brings the running and directness
01:09that we saw from Jeremy Frimpong at Leverkusen. Last season, Quenda averaged 16.8 sprints per 90,
01:15Frimpong had just 2.6 more. Then on the other side, you've got Rhys James, whose delivery doesn't
01:20need to be spoken about, and neither does Grimaldos. But in Alonso's system, one of these wing backs has
01:26to be the control variable, the one who's going to keep play moving, be able to put in a killer
01:30ball on a regular basis. And that was Grimaldos at Leverkusen, and it's going to be Rhys James at
01:35Chelsea. The problem Alonso currently has is that actual attacking front line, that front three.
01:41João Pedro is the leading striker, hands down. And then Cole Palma takes one of those number 10
01:46roles, drifting on the inside, being able to get in behind, drifting into the wide spaces,
01:50having the autonomy to be Cole Palma. But there's a hole for the partner in number 10.
01:56Garnaccio isn't someone who can combine in tight space and operate in the pockets. Pedro Neto is
02:01pretty much the exact same. Their only option, really, would be Esteval. However, he's still a
02:06little bit raw. Yes, he's great. And I really do think Alonso will love Esteval. But there is a gap
02:14for a proper number 10 profile in the mould of a Xavi Alonso player, which begs the question,
02:21could Cole Palma and Morgan Rodgers reunite? And will it work?
02:29Ben Jacobs reported that Chelsea pitched the left wing position to Rodgers,
02:33telling him he'd play on the left alongside Cole Palma, which is so, so important to consider.
02:38Because Morgan Rodgers himself told Gary Lineker that he loves to play more central,
02:43so he's involved in the game, which suggests he isn't going to Chelsea to be a conventional
02:48out-and-out winger, but instead to be an Alonso winger. A classic 4-2-3-1 with Rodgers through
02:55the
02:55middle and Palma moved out wide would have made sense on the face of it. But then you've got
02:59Cole Palma not being able to play at his best. The use of two 10s gives both Palma and Rodgers
03:04the autonomy and freedom to have their own pockets of space, both centrally and out wide.
03:09But also, they can just move freely and do what they want. For example, Rodgers wants to be
03:15everywhere. His Villa heatmap shows that he loves to drift into that wide left area because that
03:20allows him to use his pace and power to get him behind and then chop onto his preferred right foot
03:24and wrap it into the far corner. However, we know Rodgers' strengths, positional tendencies,
03:29and creativity does more suit that of a number 10, someone who can play through the middle,
03:35get on the ball regularly. If we revisit his heatmap, you see he drifts into that left pocket and
03:40operates across the whole outskirts of the opposition's 18-yard box. So it wouldn't make
03:45sense to pigeonhole him into being a winger who just stays by the wing, who's by the touchline, or
03:50more as a number 10, who is only in that central space and is purely just a facilitator. You just
03:56wouldn't get the best out of Morgan Rodgers in either of those two roles. Alonso instead pushes
04:01positional fluidity within the system. Florian Vert, as the 10 being this deep, pulls open space between
04:06the opposition's midfield and defence for other Leverkusen players to get into. They then can combine
04:11quickly to then pull even more space for one of their teammates to go in behind. Which, if it
04:16translates to Chelsea as you would expect, it would allow both Morgan Rodgers and Cole Parma
04:21to find pockets of space around and inside the opposition's block on a regular basis. Which means
04:28at times you could see Rodgers and Parma on top of one another, pulling the opposition out before
04:32quickly combining to send one of Rhys James, one of João Pedro, one of Quenda in behind the opposition's
04:38defence. Equally, you could expect to see Morgan Rodgers in this position getting on the ball in a deep
04:43area using his ball carrying to drag his side forward and forcing the opposition to engage
04:48with him. Which, in turn, would create more space for Cole Parma, give Cole Parma central space to
04:54operate in. If Rodgers drops deep, teams will track him due to his threat when ball carrying,
04:59which would allow Chelsea to overload the back line. Or, maybe the opposition will drop in due
05:04to Parma's threat, which then allows Rodgers to make something happen when carrying the ball.
05:08The new Chelsea man ranked fifth in the Premier League for take-ons attempted last season,
05:12which can be devastating. If you give Rodgers space to carry into, space to run at,
05:17he will hurt you. But, this isn't all just about Rodgers. The rotations are from this front three
05:25and even the wing backs will certainly help Rodgers shine, but it could also roll back the clock
05:30for a certain cold bloke called Cole Parma.
05:38The 24-year-old had his best ever season in the 2023-24 campaign in which he was given complete
05:44freedom to rotate in and out of the attack, get into the pocket he wanted to be in and just
05:49do
05:49what Cole Parma wanted to do. Parma operating with Nicholas Jackson, who always occupies multiple
05:54defenders at once, with also having two wider, more natural wingers, allowed Parma to get on
06:00the ball in any pocket he wanted to, whether it be the right half space through the middle or outside
06:06on the left with space to create a score. I can imagine that now that Xavi Alonso has got Morgan
06:11Rodgers, similar to how he did with Florian Vert and the other number 10s and wing backs he had at
06:24to drift around, rotate with one another and be devastating against so many different sides.
06:30But, both Parma and Morgan Rodgers will have to adopt and adjust to a new stylistic way of playing.
06:38Bayer Leverkusen ranked third in the Bundesliga at four through balls attempted under Xavi Alonso.
06:43They used overloads and tight grouping to bait out players of the opposition and attack space,
06:49rather than constantly pinning teams inside their own box and trying to meticulously break them down,
06:54which will be a huge change for a lot of Chelsea players, going from Maresca and Liam Resinha.
06:59However, in the unbeaten season Alonso had at Leverkusen, they took more touches than anyone else in
07:03the Bundesliga and completed over 200 final third passes per game, which shows Alonso's tactical
07:10flexibility, but will mean that Rodgers will have something almost entirely new to get used to.
07:15Aston Villa's whole game plan was jamming the first phase and therefore pulling the opposition out,
07:20with Rodgers being basically a target forward, operating 1v1 and targeting space in beyond.
07:25Aston Villa sat sixth for average possession in the Premier League last season, in comparison to
07:29Chelsea, who sat in third. Which isn't necessarily a stylistic difference between Maresca and Unai Emery,
07:36but it's just something that naturally comes when you have the reputation of a team like Chelsea
07:40versus an Aston Villa. Chelsea face teams who minimise space in a low block and double up on their players,
07:46which means attacking players have to find little pockets of space with their back to goal. Here
07:50Palmer receives it, takes a touch away from the goal so that he can pull Burnley players out and
07:55unsettle their low block before playing through and completely breaking what Burnley were trying to do.
08:01Rodgers hasn't regularly had to be in that way, he's not really been a player who's always receiving
08:05back to goal on the edge of the box with three or four players around him, because at Villa he
08:10was
08:10always the direct attacking fast moving player with space to attack and operate in. Therefore,
08:16Rodgers against these low block teams needs a lot of freedom because he can dart into the box which
08:21will pull the opposition deeper and create space for Cole Palmer or João Pedro to drop out and get on
08:26the ball on the edge of the box. Which as we know if you've watched Morgan Rodgers, he has that
08:30ability
08:30to do that box crashing sort of role and it won't be his permanent role or the only thing he's
08:34good for,
08:34but it could be a way to unleash the shackles of Cole Palmer in these low block games,
08:39which is something that he kind of struggled to do last season under both Maresca and Resinha.
08:44Now don't get me wrong, it's early doors for this summer window and Chelsea I am sure have a load
08:49more business to do. This potential team you see here will more than likely not be the team that
08:54starts the opening game of the season. Now Pedro, Palmer and Rodgers as a front three are incredibly
08:59balanced and incredibly Xavi Alonso based, but the two midfielders that come behind them are equally as
09:05important. Alonso likes to use some sort of a box shape when he's cider in the mid third of the
09:10pitch.
09:10The two deeper midfielders need to be capable of rotating with the two tens within that box
09:15structure. So how Morgan Rodgers performs doesn't just rely on him, doesn't just rely on Palmer,
09:20doesn't just rely on Xavi Alonso. It also relies on who's going to end up playing behind him, who's going
09:25to be his safety blanket. That's just something we don't know and it's something you never really know
09:29with Chelsea because they are so unpredictable. But there is a few things we can say for certain.
09:34Morgan Rodgers is a good goal scorer, he's a good creator and he's someone who when it comes to
09:38ball carrying is almost second to none in the Premier League. And they are things that you
09:43want from a big money player, someone who has that star quality, can grab a game by the scruff of
09:48the
09:48neck. That's what Xavi Alonso will want, it's what Chelsea probably do need. Now again, there's a lot
09:53that still needs to be decided and it all depends on how Chelsea finish this summer window. But I do
09:58think
09:58that Rodgers should be a decent signing if we ignore the mental fee that's been put on his name.
10:05But I do want you to let me know in the comments down below, how many goals do you think
10:09Rodgers gets
10:09next season and will he get the best out of Cole Palmer? I've been Jacob Hallsfolk, this has been
10:14442 and we'll see you all again next week for more brilliant analysis. Peace.
Comments