Chelsea's 4-2-3-1 formation: does Frank Lampard still have a key role to play?

After the 0-0 draw with QPR, many question have been raised by Chelsea fans concerning the personnel in the starting line up. Roberto Di Matteo has strangely been playing players in their wrong positions. The most notable examples of this being Ryan Bertrand, a left back on the left wing, Ramires, a central midfielder on the right wing and Frank Lampard, an attacking midfielder in defensive midfield. This is a very strange decision in light of the fact that the club spent nearly £80m in the summer on players who can play in the 3 attacking midfield positions. Now there is absolutely no doubting RDM’s ability as a motivator, he is top class at what he does, however his team selections leave a lot to be desired.

Chelsea’s main problem is retaining possession and moving the ball quickly. So they need to find a solution to this problem.

The image on the left (above) is my proposed starting line up against Juventus. In my opinion this team would compliment both Chelsea’s players and their system in the most balanced way possible. It has a mixture of experience, youth, pace, steel and flair.

I have attempted to “put round pegs into round holes” with this team selection (not the most revolutionary of concepts by any stretch of the imagination, yet undeniably effective). There are only three suggested changes, but I honestly believe that this will significantly improve their performance on the pitch.

• Azpilicueta is a natural right back and brings balance to the back four.

• Ramires is, contrary to popular belief, a central midfielder. The Brazilian has great pace, stamina and is solid defensively, why not give him a fair chance next to Mikel in the pivot?

• Moses proved his worth when he came on against QPR in that wide right position, he always looks to drive at the full back, take him on and make things happen, I believe he deserves his first start for the Blues.

In any formation, there is always an extremely important part of the system that needs to be functioning perfectly in order for the team to be at its best. It always used to be our striker, in days past we would hit Drogba and it would stick, then we would progress from there. We now have Torres and have switched to a 4-2-3-1 passing system from deep.

The vital cog of the 4-2-3-1 formation is the two central defensive midfielders. These players are of supreme importance to the success of the system. The image on the right (above) is a diagram of what the formation looks like when we are in complete control of the ball.

• The full backs push up
• The centre backs are near the halfway line
• The central defensive midfielders are 10-15 yards in the oppositions half
• The 2 wide attacking players are near the corners of the box
• The central attacking midfielder is roaming freely trying finding space throughout the centre.

The red lines are the passing options for the central defensive midfielders, as you can see they are at the heart of everything and have every player in blue within their passing range. In order to play this position effectively, both of them MUST remain behind the ball. When we have possession, they are there to set the tempo of the game and recycle the ball to keep the game ticking over at a fast pace. They need to be making fast and sharp 1 or 2 touch passes, less is definitely more here.

The attacking players cannot function properly unless they get the ball quickly, the quicker they receive the ball, the more space they have to work their magic. The defensive midfielders should never be making runs in advance of the ball and should be moving horizontally across the pitch simply creating angles in order to give or receive passes. It is imperative that these two players are always available to receive a pass and recycle the possession.

This is where the Frank Lampard discussion comes in. When Frank plays in the defensive midfield position, he is constantly making runs in advance of the ball, he ends up sitting in between the striker and the central attacking midfielder in search for goals and his double figure tally. He simply doesn’t have the discipline for this role. This causes 3 main problems for the team:

1. There is one less option in the centre of the park for Chelsea to keep possession, instead of always being available and helping the team keep the ball, he is actually a hindrance to the team because he turns the formation into an extremely unbalanced 4-1-3-1-1. He leaves Mikel on his own which significantly reduces passing options from the middle as he will only have angles on for half of the passes (either to the right or to the left).

2. His advanced runs close off all the space that our free role player has to work with because he will bring a marker with him. That is 2 more players in the small intricate space that Mata/Hazard have to operate in. This essentially nullifies our attack.

3. This leads to the play being broken up and the opposition going on the counter attack. Lampard is now so far forward that there is a gaping hole through the middle which Mikel has to attempt to fill and we get exploited.

Re-watch the Atletico Madrid game (painful, as it maybe) and you will see exactly what I mean. Ivanovic also wasn’t fast enough to get back to defend the counter attack, although that is another story.