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Saturday 19, 2019. Maurizio Sarri might just have understood that his Chelsea side which was on fire at the start of the season, scoring goals for fun and making Eden Hazard look like Lionel Messi in certain stints of play was only an enigma. They had visited the Emirates and got humbled by an Arsenal side who themselves are no better than them.
Chelsea' problems on the field
They had failed to score a goal against a team whose defense was worse than the 17th place Newcastle, a fact which Sarri was not able to digest.
Gonzalo Higuain is a Chelsea player to solve his striking problems given the absence of quality strikers; Morata and Giroud have been as ineffective as anyone can be. In spite of the striker signing, Sarri knows that his main problem is being unable to unleash Jorginho as Ramsey marked him out of the match at the Emirates.
Jorginho has no protection around him as Sarri wants his central midfielders to stay forward and it is proving to be very difficult for the Brazilian born Italy International to be as potent as he was in the Serie A.
To diffuse the Jorginho problem, Sarri needs to borrow an idea an idea used by Carlo Ancelotti in his AC Milan side of the late 2000s which won the Champions league in 2007, the 'Christmas Tree' formation.
AC Milan team of the late noughties
That Milan side had a similar player like Jorginho in the form of Andrea Pirlo, perhaps the greatest deep-lying playmaker in modern football history. To get the best out of him, he put two hard tackling midfielders on both sides of him namely Gattuso and Ambrosini. This system was magical as he could let Pirlo weave his magic around the whole pitch.
This system also got the best out of an attack-minded fullback in Cafu, a player possibly the best in his position ever. Also, this gives freedom to for the attacking players to express themselves as Clarence Seedorf and Kaka were devastating. Kaka even won the Ballon d'Or that year. Inzaghi, who played at the tip of the Christmas tree was crucial in making runs in behind and linking the play up.
How a new Chelsea side will look like
Although Chelsea doesn't have any one of the same calibers in their team (it might be sinful to compare David Luiz to Paolo Maldini), this is a system which can be used at Chelsea to improve their fortunes. N'golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic can be Chelsea's central midfielders providing safety to Jorginho. It will also allow Marcos Alonso to thrive as a left winger than a left back as it is clear to all of us that he is better in attack than defense.
Up front, Eden Hazard and Ross Barkley can play behind Gonzalo Higuain, Hazard providing the width and the creativity while Barkley provides the willingness to get into the box with Higuain for potential headers and one-twos.
Chelsea's formation is proving to be a mess as the sacrifice for solid defensive structure for fluidity is proving to be useless but using this formation can provide a new dimension to their game and as teams will find it difficult to break them down while also maintaining a potent, direct attacking threat. The win against Tottenham in the league cup semifinal can also provide a well-needed boost for this highly talented team to go in the right direction.
