The Chelsea Effect – Is Defending the Best Form of Attack?

Since the Champions League Semi final second leg in Barcelona in April and the subsequent final in Munich last month the football world has a new phenomenon, The Chelsea effect.

For those who have watched the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine you would have heard nearly every game being compared to the Champions League final. A number of times ITV’s Adrian Chiles and BBC’s Gary Linekar have compared a teams performance to that of Chelsea in the final is almost laughable.

In the tournament the comparison was first made during the Denmark vs Holland match. With the Danes 1-0 at half time and about to cause the first shock of the Championships the BBC team couldn’t wait to bring out the comparisons. Not only did they make the comparison at half time, but flaunted it at full time as if no one else had noticed that the Danes defended for their lives.

The Chelsea effect surfaced once again in the Germany vs Portugal match with Portugal just set up to contain and counter, which for three quarters of the game managed to do successfully. Even with the defeat Portugal were the Chelsea of the game by the way they played.

England were predicted to play the “Chelsea way” before a ball was even kicked. Perhaps, a draw against France was what they were looking for. But as Patrice Evra said post-match:

“If you are set up to play a certain way, and you get the result you want, so what?”

Even though the comparison to Chelsea has been thrown about everywhere you look in the tournament’s coverage it isn’t a new thing. Footballing teams and nations have played this way for years against the bigger clubs. The Manchester United’s, Liverpool’s and Arsenal’s of this world have faced teams playing the “Chelsea way” on a consistent basis.

Setting up in a defensive formation and keeping two banks of four closely knit has been manipulated and structured into different forms to suit the individual team. So why has it suddenly become such a big deal since that night in Barcelona?

I would say its because up until that game it was pretty much unheard of in the Premier League let alone the Champions League for a “big” club to play that way. Beforehand you wouldn’t expect a team like Chelsea who have reached the semi final stage in 6 of the last 9 Champions League campaigns; to play in that way.

On the other side of the coin is the fact that throughout recent years the football community has seen many teams go to the Nou Camp and try to play Barcelona off the park, or go all out attack to try and get past the Spanish giants and come away with nothing but a Catalan hiding and more importantly being eliminated from the competition.

So maybe, just maybe Chelsea have started a trend which is set to continue for the foreseeable future.

You can follow me on Twitter: @abaconButtee

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