In a game where almost everything happened, it might seem rude to start by highlighting something that didn’t happen in Chelsea – Manchester City 4-4. But there isn’t a single through ball in the entire game.
In an eight-goal thriller between two adventurous, technical teams, there was not once a pass between defenders to an onrushing attacker, according to Opta. For comparison: There were twelve through balls in Chelsea’s equally eventful 4-1 win against Tottenham last Monday.
Yesterday’s game was one of ten Premier League games this season in which there was no through ball. Most of the games featured the less adventurous Premier League teams. On the other hand, there has only been one Premier League game this season – West Ham’s 3-1 win at Brighton – in which there were more fast-paced attacks.
That may seem like a mere statistical trifle, but it says something about the nature of this game – the style, the tempo, the way these teams attacked. There was once a time when, in an open game between these teams, there was a constant flow of incisive balls to the back from Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas, from David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne. But in some ways the game has evolved.
That’s not to say there wasn’t some quality passing yesterday. But the passing quality came almost exclusively from deep. The players with the most passes were Ruben Dias, Rodri, Axel Disasi, Manuel Akanji, Thiago Silva and Josko Gvardiol, five defenders and one defensive midfielder.
But how did these steps come about? How did Chelsea and Manchester City manage to get the ball to attacking players in dangerous positions so often? Here are nine different options.
1) Play through the pressure
This is the classic way modern teams approach such a challenge. Instead of being intimidated by the opposing press and trying to get around them with long balls, teams actively invite the press by playing short and then moving the ball quickly through the lines.
On this occasion, Chelsea beat two City players in different ways: first, Reece James played a one-two with Thiago Silva to get past Bernardo Silva…
… and then getting to the ball just in front of Gvardiol and pushing it past him.
Chelsea end up with a five-on-four game, with Cole Palmer dribbling forward into the box.
2) The second ball
When Pep Guardiola first came to English football, what surprised him most was the number of second balls (flick-ons and releases from crosses or long balls when the ball is still there to be won) that his team took had to fight. In December 2016, he dedicated an entire training session to the concept of securing second balls before a game against Arsenal.
Because there were few long balls in this game, there were relatively few of these moments. But sometimes they proved crucial. Chelsea’s second goal came as Kyle Walker tried to clear the field after Chelsea had played long and Enzo Fernandez struggled to get to the ball first…
He played it to Palmer, who was waiting for James to overlap…
… who pushed the ball across the six-yard penalty area for Raheem Sterling to turn it into the goal, just as he regularly did during his time at City.
3) The press
With both teams putting a lot of pressure on their opponents in midfield, a mistake in possession could have had fatal consequences. Here Dias plays the ball forward to Phil Foden, Fernandez quickly jumps towards him, pushes forward and plays the ball to Conor Gallagher.
He in turn feeds Nicolas Jackson…
…who tries to play a pass between the legs of Dias so that Gallagher can run in, but the pass is blocked.
4) The dribbling
Immediately after the previous move, Walker stops and assesses the situation. At first he is tempted to slow down the pace of the game. But then he sees an opportunity for a breakthrough and changes his mind…
… dribbles past Jackson and passes the ball to Bernardo.
He then carries the ball and passes it to Erling Haaland, who shoots inside past Thiago Silva, but his shot goes too close to the goalkeeper.
5) Goalkeeping distribution
It was a difficult game for the goalkeepers, who were overwhelmed with shots and had to act as reliable goalkeepers from deep. And while Sanchez has made mistakes this season and Ederson might be unhappy with his save for Jackson’s second-half goal, neither has made a mistake in possession.
The best goalkeeping pass of the game came just before half-time when Sanchez pushed the ball into Gallagher…
… who received it at the turn…
… and played it to Sterling, who drove into the penalty area and had a decent shot on goal.
6) Objections
Unusually, City’s third goal came from a throw deep in their own half. However, this is arguably the best opportunity to get around multiple opponents trying to “box” the side with the throw.
Gvardiol throws the ball backwards to Bernardo…
…who hits the ball straight forward to Haaland, who immediately turns Disasi around, and suddenly Chelsea only has two defenders between the ball and the goal.
Haaland plays the ball to Foden, who is waiting for Julian Alvarez to run, and Haaland turns carelessly at the far post.
7) The classic counter
Sometimes attacks in such end-to-end games are considered counterattacks. But often that’s not the case – the team starts with the ball and simply avoids a press before it breaks. This is not a counterattack, because the opponent was not attacking in the first place.
But there were real counterattacks at Stamford Bridge. As Fernandez plays a sloppy pass here, Dias slides in and hits the ball to Foden.
He plays it past Marc Cucurella and onto Haaland…
…who turns around and plays a long ball to Jeremy Doku, way out on the left. Finally he cuts inside and shoots neatly at goal.
8) The trick
A single skill in midfield can be very valuable in a high-pressing game like this. Here Akanji passes the ball to Bernardo, who senses that Moises Caicedo is coming…
… and lets the ball run past the right foot, controls it with the left foot behind the right leg and then turns cleverly past Caicedo into the attack.
He then passes the ball to Rodri, who plays it out for substitute Jack Grealish, and City break out into a five-on-four system.
9) Mayhem
In a game where neither side was in control, this move summed it up nicely. Disasi rushes to tackle Foden and the ball flies into the air.
Five seconds later there is another big tackle as Grealish gets involved with Gallagher.
Chelsea won a tackle, City won a tackle, but the ball falls to Palmer, who has options left and right. He flips his pass to Jackson and Akanji intercepts it.
In the closing stages, Mauricio Pochettino appeared angry at the referee for blowing the whistle when Chelsea were on the attack, but it was a fitting way to end the game – a player dribbling forward towards the opposition defence .
In some ways, this game felt like an absurd anomaly – a crazy back-and-forth contest in which both sides lacked control or defensive solidity. But in reality it was probably just an exaggerated representation of current games between the big Premier League clubs.
The defenders were essentially playmakers and were tasked with initiating plays. The deep midfielders essentially acted as receivers and were asked to collect forward passes while under pressure from opponents. The attacking midfielders were almost exclusively dribblers and not passers, whose job it was to move the ball forward into space. And the two No. 9s must traditionally be viewed almost exclusively as finishers, as they only completed 12 passes each and played on the perimeter for long periods of time, but combined to score three goals.
Big games are what the Premier League is all about.
GO DEEPER
Chelsea 4-4 Manchester City: Old boys Palmer and Sterling play the keys, City don’t like chaos, more VAR delays