Chelsea were pretty poor against Manchester United in the first 30 minutes of yesterday’s game, and they looked to be on the road to defeat until Graham Potter intervened.
The new manager has made it very clear in his first couple of months in charge that he won’t let things ride if they’re not working, and he has repeatedly made a slew of changes early in the second half.
Today he took things to a new level, making a sub and a formation shift with just half an hour on the clock.
Marc Cucurella, who had been playing as a left centre back, was taken off and the Blues went to a back four. Ben Chilwell, who had been a wing back, was shifted deeper to left full back.
It worked amazingly well, and the Blues immediately looked more solid. Speaking to the Chelsea official website, Chilwell explained the change and how it came about on the pitch:
“In the first 30 minutes, they were really on top of us and dominated us a little bit so we made a tactical change. I was the closest player to him [Potter] so he pulled me and said we were going to go to a back four.
“Credit to him and to us because we adapted with it well, especially as it wasn’t even half-time but during the first half. We went with the diamond in midfield where we overloaded them and grew into the game, especially in the second half when we controlled the game a lot more.
“The formation change was really positive for us and it gave us a lot more possession so it was a positive tactical change and we dealt with it well, which the manager expects. The fans got behind us, we grew in confidence and then got the goal. We hoped that would be it but it wasn’t to be.”
You can criticise a lot about parts of Chelsea’s performance and some of Potter’s coaching yesterday – but this in game tactical change was impressive, and very almost won us 3 points.
Amazing job from GP