Schalke vs. Chelsea: Tactical Review of Champions League Game

Chelsea blitzed Schalke 5-0 on Tuesday night to secure first place in UEFA Champions League group G. The final game of the setup against Sporting is now a meaningless fixture for the Blues.

Let's take a look at how Jose Mourinho outwitted Roberto Di Matteo and how the Konigsblauen fell in such disastrous, heavy fashion.

Formations and XIs

Schalke began in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Kevin-Prince Boateng behind the striker and Benedikt Howedes, for some reason, at left-back. Jan Kirchhoff played in holding midfield.

Chelsea utilised their usual 4-2-3-1, too, with a full-strength side sent out to finish the job and secure first. Eden Hazard, Cesc Fabregas, Nemanja Matic and Diego Costa all started.

Early Domination

This was a mightily impressive start from Chelsea, with Mourinho displaying just how balanced his attack can be. The variety of ways in which the Blues can threaten was all on show, including:

• An early channel run between centre-back and full-back from Costa—a classic run from his Atletico Madrid days—that caused the corner for the first goal.
• Costa and Hazard as dribbling threats, taking on players and driving into the box.
• Neat build-up play on the left, then switching the ball in space to the right for Branislav Ivanovic.
• Utter domination of the passing game, with one-touch football prevailing.

Schalke, unbeaten at home since April 2014 before this game, were all at sea in their own back yard. Chelsea began pinpointing Howedes at left-back in space, switching the ball to his side and isolating him just like teams did at the World Cup this summer.

The second goal—a thing of genuine beauty—came directly from drawing Howedes out and springing runners (Oscar, Willian) into the space behind.

Willian Tweak

As Schalke grew into the match after a rocky opening 15 minutes, Atsuto Uchida emerged as the home side's obvious, best threat. With Boateng losing the ball constantly, Kirchhoff wilting under fan pressure and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar redefining the word isolated, it was the Japanese right-back that became the spark.

His aggressive positioning—akin to what we saw at the World Cup from him, too—caused Chelsea to drop deeper and deeper on the left. Cesar Azpilicueta was often one vs. one with him, and Eric Choupo-Moting's presence gave the Spaniard a dilemma as to whether to close down every time.

After around 10 minutes of Uchida threatening (and offering several excellent runs in behind that were ignored by his team-mates), Mourinho rejigged his midfield to counter the threat. Willian, a defensive workhorse, came left to track Uchida, Hazard switched centrally and Oscar played from the right.

It worked a treat; Uchida was no longer the spare man galloping forward menacingly. Willian's work ethic cannot be praised heavily enough, and he tracked Uchida the length of the pitch.

Counterpunch

Di Matteo did the right thing at half-time and took off Kirchhoff, who was being booed by the crowd due to misplaced passes and a comically bad own goal. Christian Clemens replaced him, moving to the right, forcing Moting to the left and Dennis Aogo in to central midfield.

Chelsea reverted to their standard Hazard left, Oscar central, Willian right initially, too, but that midfield three interchanged all second half as they continually confused Schalke on counters.

Di Matteo's best move of the night came in replacing Boateng, a turnover magnet, with Max Meyer, who kept the ball far better. As a result, Huntelaar became more involved and found more touches, and the Konigsblauen were not reliant on Uchida rampaging down the right.

Schalke started to see much more of the ball in positive areas, and Chelsea, 3-0 up, shrank into a low-block that favoured counter-attacks. They were impossible to break down, Thibaut Courtois had very little to do still, and the direct attacks became even more vicious.

Costa ran the channel between Uchida and Felipe Santana superbly, bullying the latter and entering the box at will. Quick balls over the top from Fabregas found him, or energetic runs through the heart of midfield from Willian set him up.

Didier Drogba came on for the final 25 minutes and became a focal point, and with Schalke so focused on stopping him, clever midfield runs found space in behind time and time again.

The final score of 5-0 did not flatter the Blues.

Quickfire takeaways

• Bad night in front of goal from Costa, but tactically very strong and key to the approach.
• Willian put in possibly his greatest ever performance in a Chelsea shirt, acing every single thing he did.
• Schalke were a disaster, and Di Matteo made a couple of terrible choices in his starting XI. Boateng, Kirchhoff and Howedes were all weak links.

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