Alan Shearer credited Thomas Tuchel’s decision in the second-half against Luton Town that ultimately helped Chelsea win the tie.
Speaking on the BBC after the Blues narrowly edged past the Hatters 3-2 yesterday, Shearer highlighted how Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s position had changed following the interval.
What happened with Loftus-Cheek?
Loftus-Cheek began the evening in a rather unorthodox centre-back role alongside Antonio Rudiger and Malang Sarr.
This was clearly a response from Tuchel to the number of injuries and aches Chelsea picked up in their previous game, the Carabao Cup final slog with Liverpool.
The likes of Andreas Christensen, Trevoh Chalobah, Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta all failed to make the trip to Luton.
In their absence, Tuchel had to rack his tenacious brain for a suitable solution.
He landed upon placing Loftus-Cheek in the middle of a back three, possibly due to his height and therefore presence from set-pieces.
After two minutes, it appeared the untrialled plan had failed.
Luton scored from a corner with around 120 seconds on the clock to send Kenilworth Road into rapturous celebration.
Saul Niguez scored his first goal for Chelsea just before the half hour mark to ease a few nerves around the Chelsea section of the stadium.
Yet, the Championship side again took advantage of their opponent’s make shift rear-guard by slicing straight through the middle with one pass to allow Harry Cornick to slot past Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Tuchel’s tactics pay off
Tuchel knew something needed changing after the break, so opted to give Loftus-Cheek more attacking licence from his defensive role.
Thankfully for Chelsea, this tweak worked a treat.
The midfielder-turned-defender assisted Timo Werner’s equaliser with a delightfully lofted ball, then was involved in the build up to Romelu Lukaku’s eventual winner.
Whilst Werner and Lukaku were attributed for changing and ultimately sealing the victory for Chelsea, Shearer felt Loftus-Cheek deserved more of the recognition.
“Loftus-Cheek did as well (change the game). I think it was very clever what he (Tuchel) did with him,” said the former Newcastle United striker.
“He moved him 10 or 15 yards further from the centre of defence into the midfield and he was able to dictate from there.
“It was partly down to him for his passing to Werner, then his pass into Werner for the second goal for him to knock it in.
“So, he was pulling the strings and dictating things in the middle of the park.”
Although Tuchel will probably try to avoid using Loftus-Cheek in the back-line again, at least he knows the 26-year-old can do a job when called upon.
Who knows, we might be looking at the next Javier Mascherano…
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