Glenn Hoddle said he could not understand Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel’s positioning of his front three in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Everton.
Tuchel opted for his usual 3-4-3 system at the weekend, using N’Golo Kante and Jorginho in the double-pivot midfield.
Kai Havertz, Mason Mount, and Raheem Sterling, who also started in the pre-season win over Udinese, started up front.
Interestingly, rather than playing the false nine role he mostly played in the last year, Havertz played as a left winger, while Mount operated on the other side of the pitch.
Sterling, on the other hand, stayed in the central areas of the pitch, despite his mostly playing as a winger at Manchester City.
The England international still had a few chances in front of goal, but Mount and Havertz were rather ineffective nad were both eventually subbed out in the second half.
Hoddle argued that these decisions by Tuchel actually made it easier for Everton.
“I didn’t understand Havertz’s being out on the left, Mount on the right — normally he’s better on the left if he’s playing wide, coming in on his right — and Sterling down the middle,” the former Blues player-manager told the Premier League Productions (via Optus Sport).
“I didn’t think that it was working that great. It was playing into Everton’s hands to a certain degree.
“They got a little bit fortunate, [although] it was a penalty, that [Abdoulaye] Doucoure made that rash decision.”
Havertz and Mount’s playing on the side of their respective stronger foot suggested that Tuchel might have looked for penetrating crosses from wide areas, which clearly did not work against Everton’s low block.
The lack of a natural number nine also means Chelsea often lacked bodies in the box to convert these crosses anyway.
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