Chelsea vs Leicester City – Tactical Analysis: How Tuchel Adapted After The Red Card

Chelsea won against Leicester City in a game where it could have gone terribly wrong for Thomas Tuchel when Gallagher was sent off seeing red for two fouls in six minutes.

With 0-0 at halftime and Chelsea a man down, Tuchel made some tactical changes which we will look at, that helped Chelsea get the unlikely 3 points. Also, the effort from the Chelsea players and the efficiency was top-notch as it had to be in the situation.

Also read: Southampton vs Manchester United – Tactical Analysis: Premier League 2022/23

How Chelsea Set Up Pre-Red Card

Before Gallagher’s sending-off, Chelsea set up in their usual way, which has been criticised considerably lately. A back five while defending with Ruben Loftus-Cheek as a right wing-back and James in the back three.

In possession is where this gets confusing for the viewers and the players as well. The purpose of this system is to get an extra man in the midfield, which is Loftus-Cheek, as Chelsea reshape into a back four.

As it happened against Leeds in the 3-0 defeat, Chelsea had no attacking input from the right side, and Cucurella was the only real danger when combining with Sterling and Mount on the left wing.

Thomas Tuchel’s Strategical Changes In The Second Half

Chelsea’s resilience and effort levels against Leicester were exceptional, and the tactical changes by Tuhcel were impressive as well.

To regain some of the balance in the middle of the park and not lose the attacking threat, Chelsea reverted to a back five with a three-man midfield. Jorginho was at the heart of it, with Loftus-Cheek alongside him while Havertz and Sterling interchanged positions.

The plan was to set up in a low-block, which Chelsea have mastered under Thomas Tuchel. This part of the plan was executed perfectly by the home side, but it was the offensive part that was the most impressive.

Chelsea maintained the 5-3-1 shape in possession as well, but the explosiveness of the wingbacks was crucial. Also, Sterling’s run in behind the Leicester defence was key in creating space for Chelsea’s midfielders to get more time on the ball as they were already outnumbered.

Chelsea were excellent at hitting Leicester on the counter-attack as both of Sterling’s goals were assisted by their wingbacks, Cucurella and James.

Thomas Tuchel displayed great tactical structure despite going down to ten men as he got the all-important three points.

However, once again, the initial game plan with eleven men was rather disappointing. Tuchel will have to get his strategies right quite soon, or else things could worsen for Chelsea.

What Did Thomas Tuchel Say Post-Match?

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel was unhappy with his players’ decision-making and said,

“Yes, because we can see individual behaviours. It’s difficult to analyse the team performance tactically when you’re a man down for 65 minutes, that will not make much sense in terms of physical data. But individual behaviour, who protects who, how we compete in challenges, we can always analyse.”

“The first 25 minutes was eleven against eleven and we will use it. I think we started very well, but I think we can be more aggressive and be more in the box if we are so dominant like the first 20 minutes. We should be able to create more chances, deliveries and half-chances.”

“I felt that we maybe didn’t smell how big the chance was to put the game to bed with one or two goals in the first minutes. Of course, we created a huge chance in transition and we had a penalty and then no penalty.”

“There are things to improve but after 25 minutes, it was just necessary survive first of all and then to have our head clear for second half and be ready to sacrifice and wait for the chance to get all three points that we did.”