Chelsea are moving away from the orthodox 4-3-3 that was used
by Jose and later inherited by Grant and Scolari. A bold
decision but a system re haul was very much on the cards.
There are critiques of the diamond and then there are the
ardent believers.
Chelsea line up this season would be something like this
- - - - - - - - - - - - - back V - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - mikel/deco - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - essien/joey - - - - - - ----malouda/yuri - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - frank/joey - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - drogba - - - - - - - - - - anelka - - - -
One major positive this formation offers us is the fact
that it allows Ancelotti to play both Drogba and Anelka
upfront in the natural positons. Mid-field is one of our
major strength's. This formation will allow us to use
that strength to a great extent.
This formation looks great on paper, But one of the major
concerns will again be width. We will have to rely on the
full-backs to provide us width again.
When the player who plays behind the strikers (lampard in
our case) gets marked tightly , centre play becomes very
difficult. In this case you have to bank on your wide
players (those on either side of diamond) to bail you
out.you need to have great quality in that department.
It never works against big sides or organised defences
and we end up looking very very narrow.
But Ancelotti has experienced success at AC Milan with this
diamond formation in the midfield.But then AC Milan had two
play-makers Kaka and Pirlo in his midfield which Chelsea lacks.
Lets wait n see how it works out for Chelsea.
