CHELSEA
Jose Mourinho is propositioned with the task of stopping his
former side from cantering towards the trophy when Chelsea visit Old Trafford
on Super Sunday.
Only four
sides have beaten the Blues all season, including their only remaining title
challengers in Tottenham, who sit seven points behind them in the Premier
League table.
Here's what Soccer
Saturday pundits Paul Merson, Phil Thompson, Matt Le Tissier and
Charlie Nicholas think you need to do to beat Antonio Conte's side...
Merse says:
Attack the flanks and keep your bottle
The only team that have really shown how to beat their
system are Tottenham, which was because Chelsea had played quick games in
succession. The way they play with wing-backs, it's hard to do that without a
break.
The way I'd play would be like we used to at Arsenal when we
played that system, with one up front and two out-and-out wingers, then the
wingers stay wide and don't track back.
That way you're either asking the central defenders to come
out wide, where the likes of Gary Cahill don't want to go, or make their
wing-backs come back into a five, reducing their threat and giving Eden Hazard
and Pedro less support.
That's what Manchester City did and they had a lot of the
game but just couldn't grind out the result. It's obviously not easy to do that
but I think you've got to have bottle if you want to beat Chelsea.
Thommo
says: Create a carbon copy of Chelsea
Spurs did it very well when they went like for like and said
let's have a go. I'm usually a person who believes you should go with your own
best system, but I think with Kyle Walker and Danny Rose as wing-backs and Eric
Dier, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld can match anybody, so they had the
right ingredients to do it.
There's not too many teams who have the players to say they
can match that system, and Mauricio Pochettino might not be a great believer in
that formation, but he knew it could stifle Chelsea.
If United had the centre-backs fit, which is an issue, and
they've got Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia available then they've got a chance.
Their centre-backs might not be as good as Tottenham's but the pace and
delivery of the full-backs would give them a chance to compete.
Mourinho won't admit it publicly but behind the scenes he'll
know Chelsea are better and that he has to hurt them by getting his players to
sit and and hit them on the break, which he has done countless times against
superior sides.
Le Tiss
says: Park the bus
How do you stop Chelsea? If I knew that I'd be making
millions as a manager! There's not a lot of weak points in their side.
Spurs did it but it's a very rare occurrence. You have to
defend well against them and ensure you're the side who take the chances,
because it's rarely an open game against them.
I'm sure Mourinho will attempt the parking of the bus
tactics and they're that strong that most teams would be happy to do that at
home.
Charlie
says: Don't be scared of them
I honestly think you can stop Chelsea. There's no guarantee
they're going to beat Manchester United. They're not playing particularly well
but with Eden Hazard's form they are getting the job done.
Spurs beat them fairly comfortably. It's the boldness to go
and take them on and they're vulnerable in the wide areas. I did the Manchester
City game last week and Pep Guardiola's men were the better side but just
couldn't grind out the right result.
I'd love to see the stats on how many changes Conte has had
to make. It just seems to be Cesc Fabregas rotating with Nemanja Matic and Kurt
Zouma occasionally coming in, so he hasn't had much to deal with.
They're a better version of what Leicester did last season
in terms of player quality and you'd do very well to name 15 players that they
have had to use regularly.
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