The moment Chelsea’s first goal went in yesterday, social media was full of people saying “I need to see the full move” leading up to Cole Palmer’s goal because it was so pleasing. Well, here you have it.
In this clip, the “inversion” of Marc Cucurella from left back into central midfield when we’ve got the ball is very clear. As Thiago Silva and Benoit Badiashile try to progress the ball up the pitch, the Spaniard is offering them options in the centre of the pitch, as though he’s a number 6.
Conor Gallagher spreads out to the left hand side and gets the ball there a a couple of times to pull the Hammers across. In the end the attack comes down the right, with Trevoh Chalobah and Noni Madueke working together to create the cross which drops for Palmer to put away.
From the patient build up between centre-backs to the sudden acceleration towards goal, this is just the sort of thing that Mauricio Pochettino will be keen on seeing more of, and the fans were certainly loving it. People on Twitter were calling it “Poch ball,” the biggest indicator that the coach is back in the good books of the internet dwelling fans.
You can see the full move leading up to the goal in the clip embedded here:
[Footage from NBC Sport]
A next stage for the XI
Just as Pochettino seems to have unlocked this next level of possession play, he suddenly has a lot of new faces returning to confuse it. But we expect him to be very slow and steady in his reintroduction of players to the team when those already out there are playing like this.
With just 3 games to go against weaker opposition, the vital thing is just to keep doing what we’re doing and not take our eye off the ball.