Is that really true though Steve? This Chelsea team has really struggled to break teams down. We struggled to break down 9 man Liverpool.
I don't even think we had to go full bus park, but just drop maybe 10-20 yards.
And, as I said above, if your are going to hold a line, you have to work smarter at pressing the ball ahead of that line. lets be honest here, Chelsea racked up the highest XG in the PL this season last night.
We didn't really create anything until we went 2-1 down and took even bigger risks, which then led to us going 3-1 and 4-1.
If tactics like this are what are going to go with Ange and all the good stuff, I'll take it, because looking forward to football every week trumps winning the league or cups for me, you could call it brave, but the logical part of my brain can't call last night "smart". IMO the high line with 9 men and Dier/Hojbjerg as CB's, with poor ball pressure was even more likely to yield up a goal than being a bit more defensively pragmatic.
We'll never know. I think we'd have ended up parked on our box because that's what ends up happening when you retreat and try and hang on. I appreciate your tactical criticism, it makes sense, but with 8 outfield players I think it's impossible to put pressure on the ball player and as a team you give that up and retreat to the edge.
Liverpool couldn't get out, couldn't mount anything because of how deep they were and did finally concede anyway. And they had all their best defenders on the pitch, not a third choice CB who hasn't played all season and a CM. And we were bloody clueless that night mostly.
You can't discount the chances created because it was 2-1. The inclination to attack and get forward was there in part because we were determined to as much as possible to get on the front foot.
I realise it's not as tangible as tactics or strategy and so often gets overlooked but mindset, mentality, desire to play a certain way against the odds, incredible effort, did galvanize a team who were known for the opposite until recently. Conte (and I didn't object to him as much as most), chucked the towel in vs Woolwich last season when we went down to ten men.
I must also say the 3 chances created weren't flukes, the 2 free kicks we played for, which showed an intelligent and savvy mentality and the delivery for both was excellent. The Son chance was carved out from open play which is extraordinary when you consider the odds against it.
I think Ange 1) still thought he could get something his way (possibly through stubbornness) and 2) saw an opportunity to push his players to the limit with possibly an eye on the larger and longer impact that such an effort brings ie confidence, belief, togetherness, positivity.
I think we come out of that pretty well - the score at the end doesn't tell the true story - and the players won't go into Saturday deflated and lacking confidence but quite the opposite.
I notice you referenced the battle of the bridge last night which I think is an unfair comparison - that night the whole team lost the plot and allowed Chelsea a way back in. Last night it was only two and they're quite rightly getting some stick for it. The others held it together mostly and pulled together, worked hard and didn't give up. That type of mentality is gold.
I think we should take a longer view - we've put together a decent 15 or 16 players in quick time, a tactical approach which is both attractive and successful so far AND he's created a fantastic team spirit which the game last night will only add to amazingly. The turnaround from last season has been huge.
The suspensions and injury to VDV will hurt us short term but if we continue with the excellent recruitment we've seen so far we can only be positive (whilst still casting a critical eye of course) going forward. I think last night adds to that in a way a bus park wouldn't have, not long term. I appreciate the need for pragmatism in such circumstances and the reasons why but we did witness something extraordinary last night and I think it'll hold us in good stead going forward.
