Jose gets the job done

‘Finals aren’t for playing, they’re for winning’- the words of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho after seeing his side run out 2-0 victors over Tottenham in this evening’s Capital One cup final at Wembley. In my opinion, these words reflect how he is the best manager of his generation. Football is a results based business, and whilst Jose may not always play the beautiful game, he certainly plays the winning game.

The team selection

When Sky Sports revealed the line-ups ahead of today’s intriguing clash, it was instantly apparent to me that Chelsea would be very difficult to beat. Their lineup featured three centre-backs- Gary Cahill, John Terry, and Kurt Zouma- it wasn’t hard to guess that this meant the men in Blue weren’t going to adopt a Liverpool style 3 at the back. It was evident that either Gary Cahill or Kurt Zouma would be charged with filling the void left by the suspended Nemanja Matic, and as it turned out, it was the Frenchman who got the nod. This Chelsea lineup told me a lot about the winning instincts of Mourinho, there was a lot said pre-match about how Ramires would probably be given the task of sitting in front of the back four, however I daresay a player with such forward thinking tendencies wasn’t ever a contender for the spot in the mind of ‘The Special One’.

The early exchanges

Chelsea adopted a 4-3-3 formation (largely a 4-5-1 when out of possession), whereas Tottenham stuck to their now familiar 4-2-3-1. The opening stages of the match actually featured a great deal of possession from the men from West London, they were recovering the ball quickly, however possession without penetration would be a more accurate way to describe their play. It was clear that Kurt Zouma would play the holding midfield role, with there being a very fluid nature about the shape ahead of him. It was obvious the Diego Costa was the main forward, however behind him the quartet of Eden Hazard, Ramires, Willian and Cesc Fabregas all had their own roles. It was apparent that all four had been given licence to attack, however getting back behind the ball when out of possession was a must. That being said, Hazard was definitely deployed in a different way than opposite wide man Willian, with the latter working very hard to support full-back Branislav Ivanovic, and the former happy to take up a position around the halfway line when Spurs were in possession. Ramires was up and down- often the furthest forward of the four, however frequently finding himself alongside Zouma in a deeper role, whearas Fabregas was setting the early tempo and would move either forward or backwards in order to be in line with play, he never found himself too far away from the man in possession.

Cutting off the space

As the first half and indeed the match wore on, it was evident that Chelsea would play with a deep defensive block. After starting off the match with a slightly higher press in search of an early goal, it seemed that bodies behind the ball and narrow gaps between the lines was the name of the game for Jose. When a team doesn’t adopt a high press inside the opposition half, the common way is for a lot of pressure to be put on the ball when it the opposition cross the halfway line. Many watching the game may have thought that Chelsea did this, that they got men behind the ball and put a lot of pressure on the ball so that Spurs couldn’t play penetrating balls forward, however in my eyes they did something different. Throughout the match I don’t feel that Mourinho’s men put a lot of pressure on the ball at all, yes there was some light pressing from the midfield, however the aim of the Chelsea players was to cut off the space in the midfield so that the player without the ball had limited options. There was nothing complex about the way they did this, the tracking back of Willian meant that Ivanovic could tuck in and be tight on Spurs’ left-sided midfielder (Nacer Chadli), and even though Hazard didn’t do much tracking back, Fabregas helped left-back Cesar Azpilicueta cover Chelsea’s left hand side, in the meantime cutting out the threat of Andros Townsend and latterly Eric Lamela. Already by covering the space in between their defence and midfield, Chelsea were able to comfortably deal with two of Tottenham’s main threats.

Kurt Zouma

An effective if not amazing performance by Chelsea’s makeshift deep-lying midfielder, however I found the way he was deployed to be very interesting indeed. There’s no doubt that Jose Mourinho felt that Christian Eriksen was a major threat for the men in white, and at times in the first half especially it seemed that Zouma was man marking him to a degree. On the occasions upon which the Dane drifted out to the left the Frenchman would follow him, not afraid to leave his position in the middle in order to ensure that Eriksen wasn’t found in space and with room to turn and dribble at the Chelsea back four. If this was the case, Ramires would fill in the holding midfield role- another example of the superb organisation from the Chelsea outfit we saw today. The fact that Zouma was allowed to follow Eriksen was a clever tactical move from Mourinho, but to me also shows why the Chelsea boss is so good at what he does. Many players when placed in the central defensive midfield position would be afraid to leave their post, afraid to move away from the centre in fear of exposing the back four, but the message had been drummed into Zouma it seemed. Kurt Zouma may not have thought this was a good tactical decision, however Mourinho had faith that Ramires would recognise when cover was needed, and also gave Zouma the confidence and belief that this was the right tactic. Jose Mourinho isn’t just a superb tactician, but a superb man-manager as well.

The occasional positioning of Zouma when the ball was either in the arms of Petr Cech, or at the feet of the Chelsea back four when they had time on the ball was also fascinating. Ramires would fill in the defensive midfield position, and Zouma would adopt the position of a common number ten. Bizarre it may sound, I can see the logic- it gave Chelsea a long ball option whilst keeping Diego Costa as an option in behind. Zouma, a centre-back by trade, was charged with winning the flick-ons from any long balls that were played forward, and in the process this would theoretically give the Blues a better chance of retaining possession, bringing Costa into play, and gaining territory in a quick and easy way. In fairness this didn’t pay off on too many occasions on which it was tried, however I could see the clever thinking behind it and it just shows how much detail Mourinho goes into when planning his tactics.

The variety in the Chelsea play

Chelsea’s tactic was to adopt a deep defensive block and to cut off any space in between the lines of their midfield and defence, however the positioning of their players throughout the match was ever-changing. These may seem trivial points that I am about to make, however I feel that they can’t be underestimated because of the effect they would have had on the opposition. As already stated, Edin Hazard was Chelsea’s left-sided attacker whilst Willian would occupy their right flank, however towards the closing stages of the first half they changed their positions completely. Hazard suddenly adopted the classic number ten position behind Diego Costa, thus giving Spurs defensive midfielders Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb a totally different proposition. This in turn prompted Willian to not just stick to the right flank but control the whole of the pitch whilst still being an extra man in midfield behind the ball. This in my opinion allowed Chelsea to be slightly more attack minded as they searched for a goal before half-time, whilst also making no big compensation to the defensive side of their game. As it turned out they managed to win a free-kick deep in the Spurs half just before half-time and score- coincidence or not? I’ll leave you to decide that one.

Another minor point regarding the positioning of players once again involves Kurt Zouma. Early in the second half Chelsea won a throw-in in an advanced position.They chose to take a long throw deep into the Spurs box, where, you guessed it, none other than Kurt Zouma appeared in order to try and win the ball in the air (Ramires covered for Zouma during this passage of play so they weren’t compensated for defensively). This was something that only happened once in the game, however was it a sign that Chelsea were willing to offer more going forward in the early stages of the half in order to try and catch Spurs cold? They did in fact score in the early stages of the second half, Mourinho’s plan or coincidence? Once again I’ll let you decide.

Some final thoughts…

In summary, I feel that this was a very impressive team performance from Chelsea. The got men behind the ball, defended deep and made it very difficult for Tottenham to penetrate them in behind- in fact, can you recall a clear cut chance that Spurs managed to muster throughout the whole match? Nor can I. It was a job well done for Jose’s men, the energy in the team was fantastic, everyone knew what their job was and they were supremely organised. They closed the game out well in the last ten minutes, that was the one phase in the game where they put more bodies around the ball, pressed the player in possession and broke up the game by means of what some may call cynical play, others may call tactical fouls.

Spurs will be disappointed with the goals they conceded, but it was job done for Mourinho. The perfect performance and the perfect result, his first trophy in two years and you could see how happy he was at the end of the match. Will there be more success to follow for Chelsea this season? You’d be a brave person to bet against them.