CHE 5-4 ASV: 3 Mistakes Tuchel made that nearly cost Chelsea a berth in the fourth round of the EFL

Chelsea have just managed to secure a place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup after a very entertaining encounter with Aston Villa. The London side faced Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on the hills of a 3-0 convincing victory against Tottenham Hotspur but were compelled to put off a less convincing performance against Villans. The match was interestingly an intriguing one especially for Tuchel whose confidence had tripled after his recent heroics.

The visitors came up with an outstanding performance that nearly got Chelsea eliminated from the competition but the tactical masterclass of Thomas Tuchel was enough to turnaround the circumstances. Despite a frustrating start to the entertaining encounter, Thomas Tuchel’s side were able to secure the lead in the 54th minute of the game after Timo Werner found the back of the net. Unfortunately for the home side, Aston Villa replied quickly with an equaliser in the 64th minute of the game to send the match into a penalty shootout.

Commendably, Chelsea’s second choice goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalega replicated his Super Cup heroics in the penalty shootout against Aston Villa, to send the Premier League leaders into the fourth round of the competition – Chelsea beat Aston Villa 5-4 on penalties. Though, Chelsea managed to secure a berth in the Carabao Cup fourth round, we however, cannot ignore some mistakes made by Thomas Tuchel that nearly jeopardised Chelsea’s chances of progressing to the next round of the competition.

1. Wrong formation

Recently, Thomas Tuchel’s 3-4-3 formation or it’s defensive variant, 3-5-2, have been recognised as the cornerstone of Chelsea’s amazing progress across various competitions. The formations have been so integral to Thomas Tuchel’s transition at the London side but it was surprising when Thomas Tuchel ditched the formation for a 4-3-3, during the match against Aston Villa.

Instead of his preferred 3-4-3, Thomas Tuchel used 4-3-3, which has not been in use recently at the London side. With the 4-3-3 formation, Chelsea were outrightly exploited by the high-paced Aston Villa wingers. There was little or no space for Chelsea to build-up attacks through the wings. Generally, the formation recorded a collosal failure as almost every member of the team was struggling to adapt to it’s dynamics.

2. Using second team players

It must have been a very big displeasure to Chelsea fans when they discovered that almost 60% of the players are second team players. Despite the nature of the competition, Aston Villa would always be worthy opponents. It is therefore very surprising how Thomas Tuchel decided to include 8 second choice players in his starting XI. Malang Sarr, Saul Niguez, Ben Chilwell, Kepa Arrizabalega, Trevoh Chalobah, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Hudson Odoi and Hakim Ziyech were all started against Aston Villa.

This undoubtedly affected the performance of the team against Aston Villa. The players were finding it very difficult to communicate with one another. At defence, Chelsea lacked leadership and coordination. At the midfield, it was similar story just that Ruben Loftus-Cheek stepped up to make things better.

3. Wrong substitutions

Having ended the first half in a goalless draw, Thomas Tuchel was forced into making substitutions that could help influence the game positively. Though, Chelsea scored some minutes after the first substitution but it does not in any way justify the idea of replacing Ngolo Kante with Mason Mount in a game where Chelsea’s defence was under constant threat. The removal of Ngolo Kante really affected Chelsea’s game and it was typified in Aston Villa’s 64th minute goal.