Levi Colwill | The next Rio Ferdinand?

[Lux Thunder]

I never played FIFA or FM in my life. It's opinion forum and I felt chelsea have personalities to implement city structure or pochettino' s spurs structure. Both were already implemented in pl effectively.

Pep s interview with Rio ferdinand before cl final against us he clearly explained how chelsea operated and his present city structural play not much different to tuchel s chelsea.

Of course you have, you signed so many talented and exciting players lately that every manager would love to work with.

But the thing is the shape that this fella imagined is not that at all, he tried to combine some principles from Tuchel and some from Pep under some Pochettino masquerade and he failed to deliver - it's simply disfuncional system that he put together.

 

[Amadaeus]

Your "style" is neither solid defensively or in possession. The way you imagine Enzo and Mudryk positioning just exposes how clueless you are. A hybrid of 8/10 mostly occupies half space in between the lines, a place where you put Mudryk in your previous illustration. If not, they on occasion go in wide areas to recieve when winger go inside, which hampers the space for your wing back to progress.

To certain systems and roles to work out for players first of all you need to create a space for them. In this particular post you have described Mudryk as "wide outlet" while also describing Chilwell to maintain width on the left side. So where is the space created for Chilwell ? Or Mudryk is not a wide outlet anymore ? Because it wasn't illustrated like that in your post I replied originally. Also, there is no point of having left footed centre back, whoever he is (Cucurella, Badiashile or Colwill) and Mudryk as a wide outlet if you have your wingback in the patch of the direct passing lane to Mudryk.

Maybe it looks doable to you on paper but there are so many contradictions in practice. With your setup you give your own players a headache and your opponent an easier job to defend with many players occupying the same spaces, while you leave yourself so vulnerable on counters. It's simple disfuncional at the best.

You have failed at basic things and you are in denial. I tried as much as possible to help you and to be polite with my previous reply, but do me a favour and just ignore me and continue to live in your very own Disneyland. I'll pray to God that Poch can buy into your fascinating ideas.



Don't know, maybe because I'm too realistic ? Seriously dudes, this is not FIFA or FM.

EDIT: Even simulation like FM will be aware and warn you about those things.

I can tell you are grasping at straws now. The way I have Enzo playing is as a hybrid 10/8. Mudryk, isn't going to occupy his space, Mudryk will play the role son played at spurs while alternating between a inverted wide attacker and a traditional winger depending on the space Chilwell operates in. Enzo even stated that the way I have him playing is his preferred approach, even though he can play as a 5 as well. But the 5 or 6 in this system will belong to Caceido and colwill when in a more advance shape when we are on the front foot.


When I stated Mudryk will be the wide outlet, I meant the wide attacking midfielder not in the traditional form. However, his position will be dynamic not static, so at times, chilwell will play as the inverted lwb and come inside, while mudryk will huge the sideline to create space for Chilwell inside. The system is very fluid and it seems a bit too complex for you to understand.

You also stated that there is no point of having left footed centre back, as a wide outlet if you have your wingback in the patch of the direct passing lane to Mudryk. As I stated before, the wingback won't be in the direct passing lane to Mudryk. City utilized the same approach with ake as the left center back with grelish as the wingback and gundogan as the lam. Even though for City it was three at the back on paper, mine is a bit more offensive with colwill playing a bit more advance from a cb role held by akanji/ake and Enzo playing a bit more advance of a rodri role. Badishelle/thiago will play the role of dias, whereas if Cucurella is in this system, Colwell will play the role of dias and Cucurella the role of ake.

This system has near six or even seven defensive minded players on the pitch. The least concern will be counters and any vulnerability in the back. There will be tons of space for the attackers to operate in and focus on attacking with the defensive support behind them. And that defensive support is heavily needed when you have players like cherki who offers little support in defense, wing backs that loves to go forward and Mudryk who needs to save his pace to attack the opposition defense.

I wouldn't say that you failed because this formation is too complex for you to understand. I do not expect people with basic knowledge of football to decipher it. You must manage at a Sunday league class or something, but this system is doable and you completely writing it off, without even providing alternative solution is laughable. You are not realistic, it seems you only watched football played on fifa.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

I can tell you are grasping at straws now. The way I have Enzo playing is as a hybrid 10/8. Mudryk, isn't going to occupy his space, Mudryk will play the role son played at spurs while alternating between a inverted wide attacker and a traditional winger depending on the space Chilwell operates in. Enzo even stated that the way I have him playing is his preferred approach, even though he can play as a 5 as well. But the 5 or 6 in this system will belong to Caceido and colwill when in a more advance shape when we are on the front foot.


When I stated Mudryk will be the wide outlet, I meant the wide attacking midfielder not in the traditional form. However, his position will be dynamic not static, so at times, chilwell will play as the inverted lwb and come inside, while mudryk will huge the sideline to create space for Chilwell inside. The system is very fluid and it seems a bit too complex for you to understand.

You also stated that there is no point of having left footed centre back, as a wide outlet if you have your wingback in the patch of the direct passing lane to Mudryk. As I stated before, the wingback won't be in the direct passing lane to Mudryk. City utilized the same approach with ake as the left center back with grelish as the wingback and gundogan as the lam. Even though for City it was three at the back on paper, mine is a bit more offensive with colwill playing a bit more advance from a cb role held by akanji/ake and Enzo playing a bit more advance of a rodri role. Badishelle/thiago will play the role of dias, whereas if Cucurella is in this system, Colwell will play the role of dias and Cucurella the role of ake.

This system has near six or even seven defensive minded players on the pitch. The least concern will be counters and any vulnerability in the back. There will be tons of space for the attackers to operate in and focus on attacking with the defensive support behind them. And that defensive support is heavily needed when you have players like cherki who offers little support in defense, wing backs that loves to go forward and Mudryk who needs to save his pace to attack the opposition defense.

I wouldn't say that you failed because this formation is too complex for you to understand. I do not expect people with basic knowledge of football to decipher it. You must manage at a Sunday league class or something, but this system is doable and you completely writing it off, without even providing alternative solution is laughable. You are not realistic, it seems you only watched football played on fifa.

Uh, pretty obviously you have Enzo as a 6/8 hybrid there given he's behind the actual 8/10 hybrids in Cherki (didn't realise he'd signed) and Nkunku / Mudryk (which is a completely bizarre pairing as they are players with more or less diametrically opposed strengths and weaknesses).

Why would you bother trying to come up with a needlessly complicated system with constantly shifting responsibilities that ensures it will be almost impossible for Chelsea players to know exactly what to do instinctively? The solidity of a team defensively has more to do with it having clear structure and roles that players know inside and out rather than the individual defensive quality.

 

[Amadaeus]

Uh, pretty obviously you have Enzo as a 6/8 hybrid there given he's behind the actual 8/10 hybrids in Cherki (didn't realise he'd signed) and Nkunku / Mudryk (which is a completely bizarre pairing as they are players with more or less diametrically opposed strengths and weaknesses).

Why would you bother trying to come up with a needlessly complicated system with constantly shifting responsibilities that ensures it will be almost impossible for Chelsea players to know exactly what to do instinctively? The solidity of a team defensively has more to do with it having clear structure and roles that players know inside and out rather than the individual defensive quality.

Nah, Enzo is a 8/10 hybrid, cherki is more of a 10/7 hybrid while mudryk is a 10/11 hybrid. As I mentioned before Enzo will play in a more advance rodri role. His heatmap will be similiar to the one you see below. Colwill and Caicedo will cover the 6 role in midfield, but not to say that Enzo won't completely not play as a 6 in this system. Moreso sparingly.

You are right, this is a complicated system, but as I stated before, this won't be the go to system I would advocate for. I would prefer poch go with 4 2 3 1 and then alternate formation as the game progresses. The formation, I listed is just another option to the 4 2 3 1, that will make colwill play that role pep has stones playing at city.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Nah, Enzo is a 8/10 hybrid, cherki is more of a 10/7 hybrid while mudryk is a 10/11 hybrid. As I mentioned before Enzo will play in a more advance rodri role. His heatmap will be similiar to the one you see below. Colwill and Caicedo will cover the 6 role in midfield, but not to say that Enzo won't completely not play as a 6 in this system. Moreso sparingly.

You are right, this is a complicated system, but as I stated before, this won't be the go to system I would advocate for. I would prefer poch go with 4 2 3 1 and then alternate formation as the game progresses. The formation, I listed is just another option to the 4 2 3 1, that will make colwill play that role pep has stones playing at city.

Putting aside apparently classifying Rodri as an 8/10 hybrid, my main question is why do any of this? What is the benefit of creating this hugely confusing system with undefined passing lanes that apparently shift constantly, which makes quick play to beat the press far less viable? And why reserve the most difficult tactical role requiring the most awareness and flexibility for the 20 year old with one top flight season under his belt who has only just returned to Chelsea?

Again, I think Colwill is comfortably the best player our academy has produced over the last 15 years along with Reece James - but why would we set him up for failure instead of trying to make his life easier?

 

[OverratedOpinion]

I wouldn't say that you failed because this formation is too complex for you to understand. I do not expect people with basic knowledge of football to decipher it.

This is very likely the most obnoxious football hipster response I've ever seen on this forum.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

but why would we set him up for failure instead of trying to make his life easier?

I imagine there will be a long winded answer but the real answer is "cos it looked cool when Pep did it with Stones and I want Poch to look cool and really really clever innit"

 

[Amadaeus]

Putting aside apparently classifying Rodri as an 8/10 hybrid, my main question is why do any of this? What is the benefit of creating this hugely confusing system with undefined passing lanes that apparently shift constantly, which makes quick play to beat the press far less viable? And why reserve the most difficult tactical role requiring the most awareness and flexibility for the 20 year old with one top flight season under his belt who has only just returned to Chelsea?

Again, I think Colwill is comfortably the best player our academy has produced over the last 15 years along with Reece James - but why would we set him up for failure instead of trying to make his life easier?

If you read some of my post before, I put a disclaimer saying that such a formation isn't to be used initially as this chelsea team is still relatively new and it may lead to some confusion to a team that barely played together. This formation is to be used, later on when the chelsea team is more settled and can play as a cohesive unit with Pochettino go to system of a 4 2 3 1. Colwill has a high football IQ, when I see him play. Adopting to this role once he has settled, will not be as complicated as it seems with the composure he has with the ball, passing range, aerial abilty and spatial awareness. It will be a natural fit once he has gotten more comfortable with the team he is playing around with at chelsea.

 

[Dancfc]

Enzo would be such a waste at number 10.

Would be the midfield equivalent of when Pep put Dani Alves as a winger and quickly corrected such.

 

[Amadaeus]

Enzo would be such a waste at number 10.

Would be the midfield equivalent of when Pep put Dani Alves as a winger and quickly corrected such.

I would say 10 the same way rodri is a 10 rather than compared to the way de brunyne is a 10 when city has the ball and rodri is playing deep in the opponent half. Enzo is a strong 8, very light 10. If that makes any sense.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

If you read some of my post before, I put a disclaimer saying that such a formation isn't to be used initially as this chelsea team is still relatively new and it may lead to some confusion to a team that barely played together. This formation is to be used, later on when the chelsea team is more settled and can play as a cohesive unit with Pochettino go to system of a 4 2 3 1. Colwill has a high football IQ, when I see him play. Adopting to this role once he has settled, will not be as complicated as it seems with the composure he has with the ball, passing range, aerial abilty and spatial awareness. It will be a natural fit once he has gotten more comfortable with the team he is playing around with chelsea

But what is the benefit of doing this? Why wouldn't Chelsea instead take advantage of the fact that both James and Chilwell are adept at attacking and also physically robust enough to play as CBs, plus both Colwill and Fofana are comfortable shifting into wide areas as needed to cover? The opposition not knowing at all times which FB is going to go forwards has potentially huge benefits.

Surely a system where Caicedo sits and sweeps in midfield, Enzo pushes up but not fully into the attacking third, one of James or Chilwell overlaps with the corresponding winger underlapping, Nkunku chooses where to go in a free role, and Jackson pushes the CBs back makes far more sense? On top of that, there's a natural evolution to this system against low blocks where the other fullback goes forward, Enzo drops a bit deeper, and now you have a 2-2-6 if needed.

Just feels like you're trying to reinvent the wheel for no reason - I just don't understand the benefits of what you are proposing beyond it being a more natural fit for Cherki on paper.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

I imagine there will be a long winded answer but the real answer is "cos it looked cool when Pep did it with Stones and I want Poch to look cool and really really clever innit"

That feels almost too coherent?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I’ve now reached the point where I’m getting a perverse pleasure from Chelsea fans on redcafe gradually all realising they’ve picked up an absolute mentalist on team Chelsea over the course of this summer….

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

I’ve now reached the point where I’m getting a perverse pleasure from Chelsea fans on redcafe gradually all realising they’ve picked up an absolute mentalist on team Chelsea over the course of this summer….

Oh there's nothing gradual about it.

Literally said this out loud when I realised I had to unignore him once the appointment was final:

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Oh there's nothing gradual about it.

Literally said this out loud when I realised I had to unignore him once the appointment was final:

 

[OverratedOpinion]

I’ve now reached the point where I’m getting a perverse pleasure from Chelsea fans on redcafe gradually all realising they’ve picked up an absolute mentalist on team Chelsea over the course of this summer….

Poor sod just can't find a home.

"I know, I'm going to compliment their players then write a rambling post about how Carlo Cudicini should come back to play a hybrid keeper/striker role because there was once a keeper that scored a lot of goals from free kicks."

Chelsea fans - "What?"

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Poor sod just can't find a home.

"I know, I'm going to compliment their players then write a rambling post about how Carlo Cudicini should come back to play a hybrid keeper/striker role because there was once a keeper that scored a lot of goals from free kicks."

Chelsea fans - "What?"

Almost makes we want to seek out the utter lunacy he must have been spraying all over PSG forums for the last couple of years. Almost.

 

[DWelbz19]

I’ve seen a lot of faux analysis in my years but this is the first time I’ve heard of “8/10, 10/11, 10/7 hybrids”.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Almost makes we want to seek out the utter lunacy he must have been spraying all over PSG forums for the last couple of years. Almost.

Feels like this is the first step to ending up like Sam Neill's character in Event Horizon...

 

[OverratedOpinion]

I’ve seen a lot of faux analysis in my years but this is the first time I’ve heard of “8/10, 10/11, 10/7 hybrids”.

It's brilliant.

The first one I can somewhat understand, I'm guessing it is a box to box midfielder who focuses a bit more on attacking when in possession (I mean surely everyone does except the keeper but anyway).

But what in the football hipster nonsense is a 10/7. Sounds like a fecking gymnastics score.

 

[Donut]

This guy is worse than Glaston.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

Almost makes we want to seek out the utter lunacy he must have been spraying all over PSG forums for the last couple of years. Almost.

I just wonder how sick his family are of hearing about Pochettino constantly.

Am - "Oh hey Auntie Helen how's work?"

AH - "Oh nothing much changes. How about you?"

Am - "Well you'll remember I got sacked from my last job by that bald prick, even though I got them to the UCL final. Then things went great in France and everyone loved me and now..."

AH - "You Amadeus! I'm asking about you!! This is why your mother worries about you."

 

[tomaldinho1]

This. Is. Superb.

Chelsea fans, prepare yourselves for one of football's last fanatics

 

[Dancfc]

I’ve now reached the point where I’m getting a perverse pleasure from Chelsea fans on redcafe gradually all realising they’ve picked up an absolute mentalist on team Chelsea over the course of this summer….

What's even more annoying is some people will inevitably feel the need to over compensate too far the other way.

 

[Ish]

ffs.

 

[Cloud7]

I’ve now reached the point where I’m getting a perverse pleasure from Chelsea fans on redcafe gradually all realising they’ve picked up an absolute mentalist on team Chelsea over the course of this summer….

It will be quite comical if things go south for poch and the chelsea fans are in here saying he's not up to it, he should be sacked etc. and we'll have a 'united fan' arguing against them

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

I’ve seen a lot of faux analysis in my years but this is the first time I’ve heard of “8/10, 10/11, 10/7 hybrids”.

It's staggering - textbook example of horseshoe theory materialising in real time. Calling someone a 10/7 or 10/11 hybrid is literally the exact same thing as just calling them a wide attacker.

 

[Lux Thunder]

I can tell you are grasping at straws now. The way I have Enzo playing is as a hybrid 10/8. Mudryk, isn't going to occupy his space, Mudryk will play the role son played at spurs while alternating between a inverted wide attacker and a traditional winger depending on the space Chilwell operates in. Enzo even stated that the way I have him playing is his preferred approach, even though he can play as a 5 as well. But the 5 or 6 in this system will belong to Caceido and colwill when in a more advance shape when we are on the front foot.


When I stated Mudryk will be the wide outlet, I meant the wide attacking midfielder not in the traditional form. However, his position will be dynamic not static, so at times, chilwell will play as the inverted lwb and come inside, while mudryk will huge the sideline to create space for Chilwell inside. The system is very fluid and it seems a bit too complex for you to understand.

You also stated that there is no point of having left footed centre back, as a wide outlet if you have your wingback in the patch of the direct passing lane to Mudryk. As I stated before, the wingback won't be in the direct passing lane to Mudryk. City utilized the same approach with ake as the left center back with grelish as the wingback and gundogan as the lam. Even though for City it was three at the back on paper, mine is a bit more offensive with colwill playing a bit more advance from a cb role held by akanji/ake and Enzo playing a bit more advance of a rodri role. Badishelle/thiago will play the role of dias, whereas if Cucurella is in this system, Colwell will play the role of dias and Cucurella the role of ake.

This system has near six or even seven defensive minded players on the pitch. The least concern will be counters and any vulnerability in the back. There will be tons of space for the attackers to operate in and focus on attacking with the defensive support behind them. And that defensive support is heavily needed when you have players like cherki who offers little support in defense, wing backs that loves to go forward and Mudryk who needs to save his pace to attack the opposition defense.

I wouldn't say that you failed because this formation is too complex for you to understand. I do not expect people with basic knowledge of football to decipher it. You must manage at a Sunday league class or something, but this system is doable and you completely writing it off, without even providing alternative solution is laughable. You are not realistic, it seems you only watched football played on fifa.

You're right in one thing, I clearly don't understand how this should work in practice, but I'm pretty sure I have played/coached more football games than you have watched on TV.

Listen to me, Amadeus, the song you wrote doesn't have a tune.

Spoiler

 

[Rnd898]

I can tell you are grasping at straws now. The way I have Enzo playing is as a hybrid 10/8. Mudryk, isn't going to occupy his space, Mudryk will play the role son played at spurs while alternating between a inverted wide attacker and a traditional winger depending on the space Chilwell operates in. Enzo even stated that the way I have him playing is his preferred approach, even though he can play as a 5 as well. But the 5 or 6 in this system will belong to Caceido and colwill when in a more advance shape when we are on the front foot.


When I stated Mudryk will be the wide outlet, I meant the wide attacking midfielder not in the traditional form. However, his position will be dynamic not static, so at times, chilwell will play as the inverted lwb and come inside, while mudryk will huge the sideline to create space for Chilwell inside. The system is very fluid and it seems a bit too complex for you to understand.

You also stated that there is no point of having left footed centre back, as a wide outlet if you have your wingback in the patch of the direct passing lane to Mudryk. As I stated before, the wingback won't be in the direct passing lane to Mudryk. City utilized the same approach with ake as the left center back with grelish as the wingback and gundogan as the lam. Even though for City it was three at the back on paper, mine is a bit more offensive with colwill playing a bit more advance from a cb role held by akanji/ake and Enzo playing a bit more advance of a rodri role. Badishelle/thiago will play the role of dias, whereas if Cucurella is in this system, Colwell will play the role of dias and Cucurella the role of ake.

This system has near six or even seven defensive minded players on the pitch. The least concern will be counters and any vulnerability in the back. There will be tons of space for the attackers to operate in and focus on attacking with the defensive support behind them. And that defensive support is heavily needed when you have players like cherki who offers little support in defense, wing backs that loves to go forward and Mudryk who needs to save his pace to attack the opposition defense.

I wouldn't say that you failed because this formation is too complex for you to understand. I do not expect people with basic knowledge of football to decipher it. You must manage at a Sunday league class or something, but this system is doable and you completely writing it off, without even providing alternative solution is laughable. You are not realistic, it seems you only watched football played on fifa.

Reminds me of this guy:

 

[Sassy Colin]

When i m right almost all the time with my opinions, why does it matter what others think? I still haven't seen anymore prove me wrong in an opinion that I m adamant about.

You mean like your fantasy Chelsea 11 which you posted in May, where half the players have already signed, or aren't linked with Chelsea in any way? Now we all know your just a WUM

Do you post with such "passion" about United? A team you purport to support?

 

[Ish]

I wouldn't say that you failed because this formation is too complex for you to understand. I do not expect people with basic knowledge of football to decipher it. You must manage at a Sunday league class or something, but this system is doable and you completely writing it off, without even providing alternative solution is laughable. You are not realistic, it seems you only watched football played on fifa.

 

[Lux Thunder]

Reminds me of this guy:

More like this fella for me. But at least this one has returned to the sanity at the end of the novel, so there still is a hope.

 

[WeePat]

I’ve now reached the point where I’m getting a perverse pleasure from Chelsea fans on redcafe gradually all realising they’ve picked up an absolute mentalist on team Chelsea over the course of this summer….

 

[Zaphod2319]

I feel like I left the thread about Levi 2 pages ago. What did I just spend 10 minutes reading?

 

[Amadaeus]

But what is the benefit of doing this? Why wouldn't Chelsea instead take advantage of the fact that both James and Chilwell are adept at attacking and also physically robust enough to play as CBs, plus both Colwill and Fofana are comfortable shifting into wide areas as needed to cover? The opposition not knowing at all times which FB is going to go forwards has potentially huge benefits.

Surely a system where Caicedo sits and sweeps in midfield, Enzo pushes up but not fully into the attacking third, one of James or Chilwell overlaps with the corresponding winger underlapping, Nkunku chooses where to go in a free role, and Jackson pushes the CBs back makes far more sense? On top of that, there's a natural evolution to this system against low blocks where the other fullback goes forward, Enzo drops a bit deeper, and now you have a 2-2-6 if needed.

Just feels like you're trying to reinvent the wheel for no reason - I just don't understand the benefits of what you are proposing beyond it being a more natural fit for Cherki on paper.

Many people don't understand new things. If it goes into effect, people will see the effectiveness of it.

The formation, I have is for more solidarity in the back with the extra center back there, also giving James and Chilwell more license to make those marauding runs with having appropriate cover, giving Enzo the role that he craves and will make him perform at the highest level and the attacking three more freedom to express themselves.

You mean like your fantasy Chelsea 11 which you posted in May, where half the players have already signed, or aren't linked with Chelsea in any way? Now we all know your just a WUM



Do you post with such "passion" about United? A team you purport to support?

No one can predict signings early on and I never stated that that will be the chelsea squad for next season.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Many people don't understand new things. If it goes into effect, people will see the effectiveness of it.

The formation, I have is for more solidarity in the back with the extra center back there, also giving James and Chilwell more license to make those marauding runs with having appropriate cover, giving Enzo the role that he craves and will make him perform at the highest level and the attacking three more freedom to express themselves.

But one of the 3 CBs you have there is in midfield instead? And both fullbacks are pushing forward into the attacking third, so now you have a narrow central box at the back and the channels are completely open for balls over the top. Throwing an extra CB in who isn't actually playing as a CB doesn't make the team more defensively secure at all.

How does this make more sense than just sending one fullback forward, shifting the back 4 into a back 3 in possession, then having Caicedo sweep up in front of them? There's better cover in wide areas, the potential spaces for the opposition are further away from goal and are harder to reach given they are bracketed by Chelsea players above and behind, and crucially the cornerstone of the entire system working isn't a 20 year old who has half a season of top flight minutes knowing where exactly he's supposed to be at all times.

 

[Amadaeus]

But one of the 3 CBs you have there is in midfield instead? And both fullbacks are pushing forward into the attacking third, so now you have a narrow central box at the back and the channels are completely open for balls over the top. Throwing an extra CB in who isn't actually playing as a CB doesn't make the team more defensively secure at all.

How does this make more sense than just sending one fullback forward, shifting the back 4 into a back 3 in possession, then having Caicedo sweep up in front of them? There's better cover in wide areas, the potential spaces for the opposition are further away from goal and are harder to reach given they are bracketed by Chelsea players above and behind, and crucially the cornerstone of the entire system working isn't a 20 year old who has half a season of top flight minutes knowing where exactly he's supposed to be at all times.

Ok, so I have to explain it a bit more. What you are seeing is the shape of Pochettino team in possession and on the front foot attacking. Pochettino is a possession oriented manager, when he was at psg, only Manchester city had better possession and passing than his team. So, they will have a high-line with colwill pushing forward into that defensive midfield role, james and colwill as wide attackers and enzo as a hybrid number 10/8. Whe they are in a defensive shape, what it will look like is
------------------------------ costa
James -- Fofana - Colwill - Badishelle - chilwell
---------------------- caicedo - Enzo----------------
----------------Cherki ----------------mudryk -----------
-------------------------------nkunku
If you are an elite manager your formation should be very fluid. Perhaps that is why many on here got confused because I didn't explain in detail and they have misconception about the tactics deployed.

Having a back 3 in possession is counter productive to the attacking nature of this formation as you have an extra man in defense, that can be used in the midfield, that will offer the midfield more numbers and passing lanes. That is why in that formation, colwill will be that anchor in this new diamond system, where he will orchestrate from the back with more protection and cover behind him when in possession. The ideal player for this role would be someone like Tchouameni and if Pochettino can get him along with caicedo, that would be ideal. But I don't not see that happening, as such I see Colwill as the player that can be developed into that type of player with who Chelsea has. I may be missing a player who can play that role for chelsea, but colwill is the one that I see has the footballing IQ and traits to play that role in this system.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Ok, so I have to explain it a bit more. What you are seeing is the shape of Pochettino team in possession and on the front foot attacking. Pochettino is a possession oriented manager, when he was at psg, only Manchester city had better possession and passing than his team. So, they will have a high-line with colwill pushing forward into that defensive midfield role, james and colwill as wide attackers and enzo as a hybrid number 10/8. Whe they are in a defensive shape, what it will look like is
------------------------------ costa
James -- Fofana - Colwill - Badishelle - chilwell
---------------------- caicedo - Enzo----------------
----------------Cherki ----------------mudryk -----------
-------------------------------nkunku
If you are an elite manager your formation should be very fluid. Perhaps that is why many on here got confused because I didn't explain in detail and they have misconception about the tactics deployed.

Having a back 3 in possession is counter productive to the attacking nature of this formation as you have an extra man in defense, that can be used in the midfield, that will offer the midfield more numbers and passing lanes. That is why in that formation, colwill will be that anchor in this new diamond system, where he will orchestrate from the back with more protection and cover behind him when in possession. The ideal player for this role would be someone like Tchouameni and if Pochettino can get him along with caicedo, that would be ideal. But I don't not see that happening, as such I see Colwill as the player that can be developed into that type of player with who Chelsea has. I may be missing a player who can play that role for chelsea, but colwill is the one that I see has the footballing IQ and traits to play that role in this system.

There is literally zero ball retention upfront in that formation. By basically every metric Jackson is excellent in this regard, so you are essentially hugely limiting Chelsea's threat in transition just to shoehorn Colwill into the side in a role he's never actually played before whilst making it harder to build possession for imaginary defensive solidity that matters very little given how much emphasis is placed on transitions in the modern game, do I have it right?

If Chelsea are playing a high possession game, then transition defense is even more important than in other settings. What you are proposing is madness on many levels, but chief among them is that you seem to totally misunderstand the tactics that managers like Poch favour.

 

[Ish]

There is literally zero ball retention upfront in that formation. By basically every metric Jackson is excellent in this regard, so you are essentially hugely limiting Chelsea's threat in transition just to shoehorn Colwill into the side in a role he's never actually played before whilst making it harder to build possession for imaginary defensive solidity that matters very little given how much emphasis is placed on transitions in the modern game, do I have it right?

If Chelsea are playing a high possession game, then transition defense is even more important than in other settings. What you are proposing is madness on many levels, but chief among them is that you seem to totally misunderstand the tactics that managers like Poch favour.

How dare you, sir! Amadeus getting misunderstanding Poch? Come on, no way...

 

[Amadaeus]

There is literally zero ball retention upfront in that formation. By basically every metric Jackson is excellent in this regard, so you are essentially hugely limiting Chelsea's threat in transition just to shoehorn Colwill into the side in a role he's never actually played before whilst making it harder to build possession for imaginary defensive solidity that matters very little given how much emphasis is placed on transitions in the modern game, do I have it right?

If Chelsea are playing a high possession game, then transition defense is even more important than in other settings. What you are proposing is madness on many levels, but chief among them is that you seem to totally misunderstand the tactics that managers like Poch favour.

Counter attacking system in such a defensive shape often rely less on ball retention capabilities, but more so on pace up top with the ability to put balls behind the opponent defense.

To reduce your fears, Nkunku can also play the lf or rf role, with Jackson or Borja uptop If ball retention is a concern. The problem is Nkunku was recruited pre Pochettino appointment. I m sure ideally, Pochettino would have use that fund to get a true no 9, rather than a false 9, but that was the mess their recruitment put their new coach under. Now Pochettino has to build his attack around a second striker that is resemblance of deli Ali, rather than an out and out no 9. But, who knows i may be underestimating Jackson and he is more of a key piece to their attack over Nkunku and their other high profile attacker in that jackson name always has to be on the team sheet similiar to Nkunku(disclaimer again: I have Jackson starting as the number 9 in the go to 4 2 3 1 system with Nkunku behind, as I mentioned again, this formation is another system to the main one I would recommend).

You do not have it right because as I stated Nkunku can play lf or rf in such a system with Jackson or Borja uptop. In addition, when switching approach to a counter attacking system when in a defensive posture pace is much more important than ball retention. To simplify, when in possession poch often deploys a good possession based system and the midfield illustrated are in the top 90 percentile when it comes to keeping possession and also in winning back possession. This covers the aspect of having a front three that takes more risk in possession. When the opponent has the ball, transitioning to a defensive shape and switching gameplan to a more counter attacking approach is something poch is familiar with and has done excellently well at psg especially with mbappe pace out wide, which he can use mudryk in a similiar manner. I implore you to watch the psg versus real Madrid game where Pochettino used such tactics where in certain parts of the game, they would dominate possession and when real Madrid had the ball, they were deadly in the counter. Such a tactics can be used with this system above.