Defensive issues at Chelsea for Tottenham bigger than individual mistakes
By Aaron Coe
A poor pass and a bad clearance which turned into two Chelsea goals were the obvious mistakes for Tottenham, however, Spurs’ defensive issues go beyond a couple of mistakes.
Tottenham Hotspur was dominated from start to finish by Chelsea in the first-leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final. A defence that had only conceded in five of Antonio Conte’s first 10 matches in charge looked a suspect as when he arrived and committed the kind of errors you do not expect to see from the Italian’s teams. Here are some reasons Spurs’ defence struggled against Chelsea.
Tottenham gave the ball away too much
Spurs were under pressure from the moment they booted the ball up and lost it at kickoff, with Romelu Lukaku putting in a decent little cross less than 20 seconds into the match. Had Kai Havertz held his run instead of attacking the near post, Chelsea would have really scored early.
This pressure-mounted because Tottenham often just cleared the ball to no one or hit aimless long-balls which gifted possession to Chelsea again and again.
As Harry Kane or Heung-min Son scrambled to apply pressure on a ball they would never win, one or two easy passes typically relieved the pressure as the front three never pressed with any concert.
The lack of connection defensively between Son, Kane, and Lucas Moura is particularly surprising given how long they have played together but much of it was the result of a lot of wasted possession and passes that were more hopeful than anything.
As the front three chased the ball, so too did the midfield four behind them.
Spurs were reactive, not anticipatory, and were a step slow as a result
Conte’s defensive scheme is built on positional stability. However, each time one player is pulled out of position or is late in their duties, it amplifies the pressure for others. This was the case against the Blues.
Chelsea often quickly recovered the ball and then would quickly switch possession in the attack, forcing the wing-backs to push up. As soon as either Matt Doherty or Emerson Royal would take a couple of steps toward the ball it would go whipping past them near the areas they had vacated.
This chasing the ball, as each player worked to recover for themselves and each other was the story of the game. Every time the player closest to the ball finally reacted, the ball was gone again. Spurs were chasing ghosts all night and that is never a good thing.