Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea tactics have been fairly fluid within his typical five at the back system for the course of his tenure so far.
Something that these tactics have sometimes lacked is an out and out striker who is the main goal threat in the team. When Tuchel has tried to fit in a striker it hasn’t exactly worked. Both Lukaku and Werner have this season been sold back to their former clubs after failing to be at all effective in the Premier League.
So, let’s take a look at Chelsea’s tactics in their most recent game against Sp*rs and see what all the fuss is about? Would a striker that could help them? Who could fill this role? Do they even need a striker? Let’s take a look.
The in-possession shape the Blues took was a 2–2–4–2 that looked like this.
This shape is really useful because of its four-player box midfield of Jorginho, Kanté, Loftus Cheek and Mount in this instance. This box of players creates numerous passing lanes in the midfield and makes it easier to retain possession. It also sets up overloads on either side and in the centre of the pitch which creates space in other areas for chance creation.
One of the big questions looming over Chelsea this season has been where they will get their goals from. It was quite clear against Sp*rs that Chelsea lacked that finisher in the box to put an end to their moves. Havertz had a few chances but couldn’t put them away and the same went for Sterling. However, this is only the second game of the season, and both of these players can certainly score some goals this season- particularly Sterling.
Someone though who could provide this is known Chelsea target, Emerick-Aubameyang.
The Gabonese striker is a proven prolific goal scorer in the Premier League thanks to his time at Arsenal as is currently playing for Barcelona, where the arrival of Robert Lewandowski is surely going to reduce his playing time.
At 33 years of age, Aubameyang isn’t exactly in his pomp, but this is Chelsea who often like to plan in the short-term- if they believe he could be the key to winning a trophy this season- then that’s who they’ll buy. And the former Arsenal no.14 could very well be that key.
Aubameyang has always been touted for his finishing, agility, and speed. This is exactly what Chelsea and Tuchel should be looking for.
As we can see from the attacking shape above, Tuchel has his two forwards set up on the edge of the opposition penalty area. In the game these players often stood with their backs to goal, aiding build-up play with the midfield as well as wide players. The strikers are also the ones making darting runs into the box or the final third when Chelsea counter attack which is actually how they scored their first goal. Sterling ran onto Kante’s through pass on the counter and forced a corner after Lloris stopped his shot- it was this corner that Koulibaly scored from.
Something that the two forwards failed to really do in the game was to sit on the shoulder of the last defender just outside the box before spinning their marker and making a run at inside to put themselves in a scoring position. This is something we have seen Sterling do a lot at Manchester City; however, Kai Havertz doesn’t really seem the right fit for this movement. And so, along comes Aubameyang.
Aubameyang has the turn of pace to slip past the defender and into the area to connect with a through pass of some sort. He did this time and time again at Arsenal and Dortmund, through the middle and on the left-wing. His experience of doing this from the left-hand side is perfect for this Chelsea set up with two forwards playing on either side of the penalty area.
Aubameyang has been a huge threat when getting on the end of crosses both with his head and feet. This suits Chelsea’s style brilliantly as they rely on a lot of crosses due to their focus on wide players like wing backs putting crosses in or getting themselves to the byline to create chances.
In the 2016/17 season, Aubameyang was coached by Tuchel at Borussia Dortmund and this alongside running onto balls from counter attacks was where he scored the majority of his 31 goals that season which makes a pretty compelling case for him.
This is Aubameyang’s shot map from that season, the green represents goals and the other colours represent other shots that didn’t end up in the back of net. The size of the circles represents the xG of the chance e.g. a bigger circle means the chance was a higher xG chance. Quite a promising sight for Chelsea.
One hurdle to this seemingly smart move for Chelsea has to be the striker’s age. At 33 there is no guarantee that Aubameyang is still as fast and agile as he once was. What I can see from the goals he has scored at Barcelona is that he is no longer ruthlessly beating defenders pace for pace yet still has retained a fair amount of this speed. This goal he scored against Valencia is a good example of how he can still beat the last man to score when on the counter. Here he beats the defender to Alba’s through ball and then finishes in style.
What is interesting is that most of his goals there have come from crosses into the box where he is scoring in similar positions to the ones shown in the shot map above.
Another possible issue with this transfer could be one that involves Aubameyang’s disciplinary record. It has been made clear that there were a number of these in his time at Arsenal and throughout his career. Would Tuchel put up with his antics?
Aubameyang could join Chelsea very soon and it will be interesting to see whether he would fail like his predecessors in Lukaku and Werner, or if he would pave the way to a trophy or two for Tuchel’s tricky blues.
All of this does raise the question though- do Chelsea even need a striker? They managed to win the Champions League and come third last season without any out and out goal scorer- so why do they need one now? I myself am not so sure they do.
