On paper, all the three variants are the same, coming under a label ’4-3-3′. Jose Mourinho’s options for the midfield and forward line combined, is rather vast.
He has the likes of Eden Hazard, Juan Mata, Oscar, Kevin De Bruyne, Fernando Torres, Romelu Lukaku, Demba Ba, Lucas Piazon, Victor Moses, Andre Schurrle, Josh McEachran, Frank Lampard, Ramires, Marco van Ginkel, Nathan Ake, John Obi Mikel, Mikel Essien and David Luiz; 18 in all (19 if Chelsea actually manage to sign Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney).
This is way too much depth just to fill just six slots. Let us consider each player individually and examine their probable positions.
Hazard and Mata, who are extremely alike, are capable of playing anywhere as long as it is in an attacking capacity. On the left wing, Hazard can be a threat, cutting in on his favoured right foot. Likewise, Mata can cut inside from the right to use his left.
Though both aren’t true wingers who hug the touchline, they can affect the opposition fullback’s marking with their movement. Another option for both would be to play behind the striker.
Assume that the shape is a holding 4-3-3 and De Bruyne is on the pitch. We know that De Bruyne likes to play wide or just behind the striker. The same goes for Hazard, and to a lesser extent, Mata. Now, De Bruyne swaps with either Hazard on the left, or Mata on the right.
This would put one of Hazard and Mata into their favourite position behind the forward, while De Bruyne goes out wide. Depending on who he is swapping positions with, KDB’s role changes either to that of a classic winger or an inverted winger.
This is how it could look:
Add Lucas Piazon to the mix as well, performing the same role as De Bruyne. Oscar has also been deployed in wide positions in the past (by Rafa Benitez) to an average level of success. Though it is not his most comfortable position, he is an option nonetheless.
The above discussion takes care of Hazard, Mata, De Bruyne, Piazon, and to a certain extent, Oscar.
Moving on to the next set, keeping the same formation in mind, let us turn our attention to another group of players who are capable of playing wide or as the central striker: Schurrle, Moses, Torres and Lukaku.
Lukaku has played on the right sometimes for West Brom with strong results (in particular, one of his goals against Reading came from there). If played wide, he offers direct running and a devastating burst of pace (a better version of Moses one might say). This is just another possibility, since Lukaku is at his best leading the line rather than supporting it from wide.
While Lukaku and Moses are options on the right, Torres and Schurrle are possibilities to drift to the left. Torres, primarily a centre forward, has shown that he can deliver a good number of assists as well. In some of his substitute appearances over the past couple of years, this slight change of role has helped him increase his assist count.
Schurrle still remains a mystery. But he is equally happy to play as the centre forward or as the left forward. Amidst this mix, Ba remains the only static player, who cannot play anywhere other than the central position (he was forced out wide when Cisse arrived at Newcastle, which resulted in him becoming anonymous in most games).
Torres, Schurrle, Moses, Lukaku, and Ba have been taken care of here. Add some wide players like De Bruyne, Hazard, and Mata to the mix, and think of the possibilities. We have the chance of permuting eight players into three positions, which results in a huge number of possible arrangements.
Now, consider the Brazilian duo of Oscar and Ramires. Ramires, like Oscar, can play wide, but would prefer to play centrally. Oscar comes across as the most flexible player in the squad here, as he can play the deep-lying playmaker role in addition to playing further up and wide (he plays this role for Brazil).
Thus we have Ramires and Oscar for wide areas and in the centre, with Mikel, Essien and Ake as the true holding players.