In depth tactical Match Analysis as Swansea City hold Premier League champions Chelsea to a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge on the opening day of the 2015/16 season.
(Click the screenshots for full size versions)
In an exciting match that had everything, luck for the hosts, controversy, a penalty, sending off and some great goals – as it was Swansea City who had to settle for just a point when they could have had all three after Courtois’ sending off early in the second half.
Swansea City haven’t had much luck against Chelsea, whether it’s home or away, and with the news that striker Diego Costa was fit to start – the Champions were probably quietly confident of getting off to a winning start.
Garry Monk has often set up his teams to be defensive, concentrating on keeping to a disciplined shape and looking for quick counter-attacks to create a few chances here and there. The biggest example of this was at the Emirates Stadium towards the end of last season. The Swans sat deep, defended in two close lines – frustrating Arsenal before taking their chance late on in the game to win 1-0.
It wasn’t the same on Saturday though. Garry Monk was bold with his starting eleven selection to say the least – and he got his reward. His side got a point, but he also saw them produce an impressive performance that gave Chelsea a tough test, suffering 10 shots on target in the process whilst they had to rely on a fortunate free kick and deflected cross to find the net. Monk and his players will have taken great confidence knowing they could go to a place like Chelsea – the champions no less – and give them a good game.
Going to toe to toe with teams like Chelsea – particularly away from home can be a very risky move. Monk even refused to do it at Everton last season – preferring to set up defensively and play out a goalless draw.
Swansea’s setup in midfield
Garry Monk set up his side to apply good, intense pressure in Chelsea’s half and stop them from gaining control in midfield.
Wingers Montero and Ayew often pushed inside to congest the centre of the pitch, Sigurdsson and Gomis also contributed well to keeping things tight and limiting the space in the centre.
This allowed the Swans to outnumber Chelsea 3 vs 2 or 4 vs 3 in the centre of the pitch, while Shelvey and Ki and time and space to run forward and pick out forward passes.
The screenshot above shows Swansea’s pressure on the ball, forcing Chelsea to rush passes and concede possession.
Matic and Fabregas were key to their side’s title winning campaign last year. Their contrasting styles between defensive and creative qualities complimented each other perfectly, but both players struggled and were never able to impose themselves in the game.
The screenshot above shows Matic on the ball, with Shelvey about to apply the pressure. Sigurdsson is closely monitoring Fabregas while Montero in particular has pushed in centrally to add defensive support. Monk seemed happy to do this and leave the full backs to do the defensive work out wide – hoping that they wouldn’t be exposed too much if they could prevent Chelsea from getting the ball out to these wide positions.
There were moments when Chelsea were able to do this as you can see below. The Swans – in their persistent effort to close down the hosts and get in their faces as often as they can, shifted across to wide areas leaving space in the centre.
Shelvey and Ki shift across to try and crowd out Chelsea – with Ayew also moving over from a central position, but this leaves Fabregas unmarked to receive a pass.
Another example of this is above. Matic can pick up the ball in space with Fabregas in support – as well as Ivanovic moving forward down the right from full back. Swansea were quick to recover and their effort and desire throughout the 90 minutes must have pleased and impressed the managerial staff.
The screenshot above is another example of how the Swansea wingers – Montero visible in this example – moved inside to allow them to dominate in the middle third. Willian has to move inside from his wide position to add support as Fabregas is lost for passing options in front of him.
Montero can race out to Ivanovic if he receives the ball, Gomis can then apply pressure to Fabregas so the Swans are always marking at least 1 vs 1. Willian moving into the centre means the right back has nobody to work with in front of him, forcing a pass backwards as the Swans effectively limit the home side’s attacking play.
This, together with their energetic and good application of pressure on the ball frustrated Chelsea.
Monk talked about practising a high line of pressure during pre-season and training the team to win the ball back higher up the pitch and we saw that at Chelsea – of all places!
Above, Sigurdsson can rob Fabregas of possession as his side look to catch Chelsea out on the break, while below shows Fernandez applying pressure near the halfway line as Costa is forced to play a pass all the way back into defence.
Swansea defensive work in their own half
When Chelsea were able to get forward and into the attacking third, Swansea were defensively very solid, though there were moments when some last minute tackles and interceptions were needed after some good interchanging and quick passing from the hosts.
Above shows Swansea’s effective defensive “barrier”, along the line and across the back.
Azpilicueta, in possession, doesn’t have many passing options available to him, none that won’t see a straight pass back to him anyway. Costa is closely monitored by Williams in the centre – as he was all game, Willian too by Naughton and there’s nobody else in the centre.
There were times when Willian was allowed a free run down the right, as the ball was able to come back across to the right flank for reasons previously mentioned above.
But as I said, the Swans were super quick to get back in defensive support. Willian has 3 team-mates in the box, while 7 visiting players pack the box. It’s unlikely that he can cause a threat in this situation, the only way as if his cross was to deflect off a defender and into the net?.
Above is another example of how Swansea City defended well in a good shape, and limited Chelsea’s progress in their half. Oscar is all on his own above, Gomis is back doing defensive work, and Ki and Naughton help to block off passes inside, plus the right back follows Costa’s run thanks to instructions from Fernandez.
You have to wonder why Fabregas or Matic aren’t pushing forward into the shaded blue area to offer an option for Oscar, who can then look to pick out Willian or Hazard. With Costa moving out wide, Swansea don’t look under threat whatsoever through the middle.
Shelvey’s freedom in midfield
What was surprising was how much time and space that Swansea City had on the ball. Chelsea forced the Swans into basic mistakes throughout their 5-0 win at the Liberty Stadium last season, but here they back off and don’t look interested in applying pressure on the ball.
Above and below are further examples of Chelsea’s lack of pressure on the ball. Williams and Fernandez can pass with ease along the back, and Naughton is also free to receive the ball in wide areas. There were times where Swansea needed to play some excellent, quick passes to get out of tight situations and to move the ball into the likes of Gomis and Sigurdsson.
Shelvey in particular was given all sorts of time and space to do whatever he wanted. I could show 8 or more screenshots throughout the game of Shelvey in yards of space in the centre of the pitch as he dictated Swansea’s game.
The ball went into his feet whenever possible as he was Swansea’s creator. Below shows his long pass through the middle to put Gomis through on goal after just 14 minutes, but the striker takes too long – cuts inside and allows Terry to help out Cahill and make a crucial intervention.
There were a few moments where Shelvey was allowed to make these killer, defence-splitting passes through the middle. He makes another in the second half (below), but Gomis is flagged for offside despite looking pretty-much level with the last defender.
Above shows Shelvey in possession. Costa is slow to close him down – in fact he doesn’t, Willian doesn’t get tight on Montero and Williams is always an option if the midfielder needs it (he rarely did).
Above, Shelvey can push forward into yards of space as Chelsea lack presence in midfield, and examples like this occurred throughout the match. It was even more surprising to see that a manager like Jose Mourinho failing to stop Shelvey from running the show for the Swans – as they began to get more involved in the game after a bright start from Chelsea.
Above, Shelvey again has plenty of time to pick a pass, Ayew can get beyond Oscar with an inside run and Naughton is also pushing forward – though he’s out of the picture.
Like Chelsea, Swansea were also able to move the ball from wide into the centre and have a man there in plenty of space to pick up the ball and move forward.
Swansea’s attacking intent & work-rate
Garry Monk gave his full backs the freedom to attack in this match, something we rarely saw in away games last season and it was great to see. It paid off and they were rarely exposed as a result of it.
With Montero and Ayew often moving inside when his team weren’t in possession, the full backs pushed forward to provide wide options.
Naughton receives the ball (below) high up the pitch and as Ayew (out of the picture) pushes forward quickly to give him an inside option.
Talking about Shelvey’s freedom in the centre, Montero was also able to receive the ball in space, and with a few yards of space in front of him to run at the likes of Ivanovic and Willian.
There have been games where teams have effectively stopped Montero from causing a threat. Man-marking him tightly – not letting him get into a stride with the ball. Another method was to ensure that he always had two players to beat, which prevented him from knocking the ball on and using his pace to get around the defender.
But this never happened, and nothing was ever done to limit his threat.
Above, shows how Shelvey – under no pressure, can pick out Montero – who’s hugging the touchline as his side are now in possession. With Willian further forward, he only has Ivanovic to beat – which he did on numerous occasions in the game.
Below is another example – early in the second half, of Montero receiving the ball in space, Willian not in an effective position to support Ivanovic, as the winger can get past him on the outside and towards that byline.
Despite Swansea’s effective play, pressure and defensive work early on to stall Chelsea’s bright start, they went a goal down mid-way through the half. Not what either side deserved. Fabianski was yet to be forced into any action worthy of note.
Oscar sends in a free-kick wide from the left, a low cross that shouldn’t get past “the first man”, as you want Gomis there to clear it with ease. But Cahill is allowed to get in front of him, confuse Fabianski and wrong-foot him as he tries to get a touch, he doesn’t and the ball ends up flying into the bottom far corner of the net.
The Swans looked a little rocked by the goal, and it interrupted their rhythm. But Chelsea’s lead lasted barely 5 minutes as Montero’s excellent work down the left saw him lift a cross up to Gomis. He couldn’t find the net like he did at Arsenal last season in similar circumstances. Courtois pulled off a great save, but Ayew was well-positioned to find the net at the second attempt, a wonderful drag back in the build-up to allow him to get a shot past Terry and into the net.
90 seconds later, Chelsea are back in front, as Willian’s cross from the left takes a wicked deflection as the ball goes over the helpless Fabianski and into the net. Another stroke of luck for the Champions, but Swansea showed great character from the start of the second half as they looked for another quick response to put the game level for a second time.
And they did.
The sending off and Gomis’ equaliser
The move starts off with another Shelvey pass through for Gomis to run onto. Taylor pushes forward, forcing Willian to go with him. Terry is caught out on the half way line – leaving Ivanovic and Cahill to defend centrally.
Gomis can get in behind the ball-watching pair and run in on goal.
Above, Gomis knocks the ball past Courtois as the goalkeeper is forced to race off his line. He makes contact with the striker and brings him down, referee Michael Oliver wastes little time in awarding the penalty and sending the goalkeeper off.
There’s a big debate as to whether or not it is a sending off, but there can be little doubt that the foul occurred just inside the box to warrant the spot kick, that Gomis converted calmly.
It’s a sending off if a clear goalscoring opportunity is prevented. Surely, looking at the above, it is a clear chance to score. The goalkeeper is the last man. Cahill is running back as cover yes, but you’d expect Gomis to find the net if he can get the ball past Courtois.
Yes the ball is not going into the direction of the game, but you’d do well to do that whilst passing the goalkeeper. And even if Cahill does get back on the line, you’d still fancy Gomis to pick out the back of the net.
The sending off gave Swansea extra confidence and attacking momentum, they had levelled the match for a second time and they were able to have a good 20-minute spell or so to try and go in front.
Sigurdsson’s extra space in the hole
Gylfi Sigurdsson had been doing the hard stuff up until now, chasing loose balls, applying good pressure on Chelsea’s defence and holding midfielders as well as helping Swansea’s attacking play link-up now and then, but he came into the game a lot more against Chelsea’s 10 men.
Above, Shelvey again has plenty of space and time on the ball, Taylor has space to receive a pass down the left and Sigurdsson can move into that pocket of space around the edge of the penalty area.
Above, 4 Swansea players have space to create something, and it was no surprise to see Mourinho later replace Fabregas with Zouma to boost his side’s defensive support.
Spaces opened up going forward, Taylor can break through the channel to receive the ball, and cross for Gomis to easily convert but the goal was ruled out for offside.
Chelsea’s limitations going forward
Chelsea weren’t able to cause any problems for the Swans until the final 10 minutes or so. Falcao added to Chelsea’s attack and Swansea didn’t look as dangerous after Montero went off due to a slight knock, but before that, they couldn’t commit players forward.
Hazard was pushed forward alongside Diego Costa but they were outnumbered as you can see in the below screenshots.
Above, Ivanovic’s only option is to kick a long ball forward into the nox, but there’s three vs two on Hazard and Costa.
Above, Hazard and Costa have to try and work around 6 Swansea City players with nobody in support, and below is another similar example.
There was one chance that Chelsea had later on in the game that came after a quick break with Willian below. The Swans were pushing players forward, lost possession and allowed the opposition to break.
This may have served as a warning sign as Swansea then took their foot off the gas a little, dropped a little deeper and looked to defend their worthy point. 
The Swans produced a superb performance, full of work rate, confidence and desire that stands them in good stead for the season ahead. Garry Monk was bold in his team’s setup, pushing his full backs forward and effectively pushing forward and getting his players to apply plenty of pressure further up the pitch.
They also created 10 chances at Stamford Bridge, the most recorded by Opta since they began in 2003. The players must take this into next Saturday when they host Newcastle United at the Liberty Stadium, but a performance like that will ensure them that they can go anyway in the League and get a result.
Share this article
Related Articles
