Time and again Enzo Maresca persistently insisted in his press conferences that Chelsea were not in a title race.
Talking to BBC Sport, the Italian said "There are things we have to do better. That’s why I said for me, we are not ready."
These quotes came after Chelsea had beaten Brentford on the 15th of December to move within two points of Liverpool.
Since the win against Brentford, Chelsea have collected only two points from a possible 12.
Though this may be a Premier League season like no other, where the script has been flipped and the top’s underbelly is exposed, it may worry Chelsea fans that the dropped points came against Everton, Ipswich Town, Fulham and Crystal Palace.
Ipswich are in the relegation zone, Everton are one point above them and Palace one place and four better than the Toffees.
Maresca's ominous prediction is proving to be true. The former Leicester manager has many weaknesses to address (as he pointed out himself) to ensure Chelsea's bright first half to the season doesn't go to waste.
With the halfway point reached after the busy Christmas period, the tactical blueprint to stop the Blues has become clear.
Struggles with transitions
Against Ipswich, the Tractor Boys gave an excellent, well-drilled performance without the ball.
A large problem Chelsea are having is dealing with teams pressing them in defence and this was certainly the case at the Portman Road Stadium
Maresca likes to have two players in the half-spaces in Cole Palmer and Joao Felix as well as bravely pushing up Enzo Fernandez as one of the pivots. Ipswich with their three-man midfield, marked Fernandez and Palmer in the middle.
Crucially as Felix dropped deeper and deeper to receive the ball, two Ipswich strikers pressed Chelsea’s defence, simultaneously a player (Wes Burns) would move out of the back five and tackle Felix.
Chelsea’s attackers operating in the half-space, be it Felix, Palmer or Fernandez are having to come closer towards their own goal to receive the ball because of the press. Exactly where Maresca wouldn’t want them to be.
As Chelsea push up a full-back in Marc Cucurella to add to the large number of players in attack, it leaves them vulnerable in transition allowing opponents an ocean of space.
Chelsea getting pressed in possession has a butterfly effect on them conceding dangerous chances, as once they aren't able to progress the ball into attack where they have committed players up front when the ball is turned over, it leaves them scant at the back.
The approach of pressing Chelsea’s defence gives them no option but to go long. From the press above against Ipswich, Chelsea ended up kicking the ball at Omari Hutchinson who played Liam Delap in to shoot on goal.
Fulham turned the game around at Stamford Bridge using the same method in the later stages of the game.
Pressing Chelsea higher whilst marking the midfielders as central passing options has thus far been successful because Maresca's style of play is more concerned with how to break teams down and less about what to do if the build-up isn't smooth.
Teams prefer this to the Blues finding Fernandez or Palmer in the middle of the pitch.
Cucurella likes to join Chelsea’s highest attacking line in an attempt to outnumber team defences, but defenders are unafraid to physically bustle whoever is receiving in midfield off the ball.
The Blues have a lot of technical players but not many physical ones. Once the Spanish full-back is dispossessed, Fulham have a 5v4 in their favour.
Issues with the press
As well as pushing up a full-back in attack, Maresca pushes up a defender when Chelsea press.
The defender (Axel Disasi) pushing up joins a midfielder and winger resulting in situations like the above where a cluster of players are in one zone, and can be easily bypassed.
The problem is exacerbated as Maresca only has one midfielder hold his position in front of the defence, so when a switch to the other wing is on, the receiving player has tonnes of space with the pass taking out four Chelsea players in close proximity.
There are too many Chelsea players close to each other pressing which allows teams to dribble around their attack. Committing four Chelsea attackers in the press means if they don’t win the ball there isn’t much cover for the lone midfielder.
It’s admirable to be gung-ho out of possession but it’s not like many of Chelsea’s attackers are smart pressers who win the ball often.
Wasteful finishing hurting Blues
When Chelsea can’t find space in the middle, they tend to go wide to one of their wingers to beat a man and cross the ball.
Though they've had problems in build-up, there is still too much talent in Chelsea's attack to keep them at bay for an entire 90 minutes.
It's not as though the attack is less productive because they aren't making chances anymore, they are not taking them, particularly in the first half, and it's costing them in the second.
Nicolas Jackson has one goal in six games and whilst Palmer is having another brilliant season, he can’t shoulder all the goal-scoring responsibility.
When they fail to kill games off teams are biding their time and hitting them with fast transitions.
Chelsea fans have enjoyed watching Maresca’s expansive brand of football as their young stars become more comfortable in his system.
If he doesn't refine the weaknesses of his tactics, Chelsea can forget about any dreams of a title race and will be dragged into a tooth-and-nail fight for the European spots.
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