25 July 2007
Make Your Mind Up Mourinho
This time last week Chelsea fans were dreaming of a transformation from the footballing ugly stepsister of London to the arm of the beautiful game.
Only the most maternal of Chelsea fans could ever call Jose Mourinho’s team beautiful; powerful, technical, tactical, destructive, brave; all these and more are fitting descriptors. Stunning, dashing, mesmerising, beautiful; no. These are reserved for the Champions and the two giants of North London; Arsenal and Tottenham.
But last week, Mourinho had decided enough was enough. No longer was grinding, functional football enough (as it shouldn’t be if your chairman has spent half a billion pounds on the club) now it seems we are witnessing the brave new dawn of the 433.
The 433 has a nominally attack-sounding ring to it, “three strikers!” you say, in reality the 433 is more an exercise in expectation management than it is attacking intent.
Generally, a 433 is used to accommodate an extra defensive midfielder to create a narrow bank of three midfielders as a defensive shield that moves laterally across the pitch. The attacking triumvirate features one striker and two wingers (so one could say 4321 is a more apt nomenclature). The 433 was originally used by Brazil in the 1962 World Cup (which they won) but one has to ask, when was the last time a Brazilian winger was asked to track back? Or perhaps the more pertinent question is, when was the last time a Chelsea winger was given the freedom of the park?
In reality, Mourinho’s 433 is more of a 451. Of course 451 doesn’t sound nearly as exciting as 433 but I think we can safely assume that Andriy Shevchenko, Claudio Pizarro and Didier Drogba are unlikely to feature on the same pitch at the same time. More likely, Florent Malouda and another winger would flank Drogba - or rather the three shielding midfielders.
The back four picks itself, Cole/Bridge, Ferreira/Haim, Terry, Carvalho.
The middle three will be picked from Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Michael Essien, Claude Makélélé, John Obi Mikel and Steve Sidwell (!).
The wide players will be picked from Joe Cole, Florent Malouda, Arjen Robben, Salomon Kalou, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Scott Sinclair.
Drogba up front with Shevchenko where he belongs - not playing or in Milan.
“Width is important in a team like ours, and with the quality of our wingers we have to use them, unless something dramatic happens again and we have none to play” Mourinho said last week.
Which makes the dramatic rumours of Arjen Robben leaving for Real Madrid, Shaun Wright-Phillips leaving for Tottenham or Manchester City and Scott Sinclair going out on loan again all the more dramatically baffling.
Indeed this week, Joe Cole was quoted saying, “In a 4-3-3 there is one position for each of them, that’s clear - I know and feel that there is understanding of the system” - he was talking about the strikers.
The fact remains that Chelsea’s strength is in their determination, indomitable spirit and the ability to stop the opposition play. Compromise on their core capabilities and they will find themselves slugging toe to toe with two - maybe three - teams who play the beautiful game better and have done so for longer.
The last time Chelsea played an expansive game, Manchester United were reeling from Kenyon’s traitorous defection (and the loss of the players who he convinced to choose Chelsea over Manchester United), Arsenal were in a down season, Liverpool were much as they are now (a poor-man’s Chelsea) and Tottenham were not much more than a twinkle in Daniel Levy’s eye.
So is Jose Mourinho really going to abandon his successful stifling game in favour of the aesthetic? Has the wheel turned from defence back to attack again?
