ARTEX-i4232

How do you break down a team that shapes up in a 6-3-1 formation out of possession?

It’s a question Chelsea were forced to try and find an answer to when they travelled to Bucharest to take on Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night.

Even by Diego Simeone’s obsessively high standards of defensive solidity, his team were in a particularly stingy mood in Romania. That opening gambit is not a misprint. Each time Atletico lost the ball, a flurry of Rojiblancos shirt retreated to their own 18-yard line.

Centre backs Mario Hermosa, Stefan Savic and Felipe, wing backs Thomas Lemar and Marcos Llorente, and right forward Angel Correa would respond to El Cholo’s raspy screams, teaming up to create one of the most imposing low blocks in world football.

Collectively, the system would pose problems to any set of attackers. However, the remarkable talent of each of its composite parts – even with the absences of Kieran Trippier and Jose Gimenez – made Chelsea’s task even harder. Each member of this seemingly impregnable defensive wall has contributed significantly to an Atleti team that has conceded just 16 goals in La Liga this season and shipped just eight in a Champions League group containing the irrepressible Bayern Munich.

Despite all of this, the Blues still managed to escape from the contest with a win and, perhaps more importantly, a crucial away goal. They had Olivier Giroud to thank for this, a player who has seemingly been on the cusp of being shipped out of Stamford Bridge for the past two years.

The once unwanted Frenchman netted one of Chelsea’s great European goals. Latching onto Marcos Alonso’s diverted cross, he produced an overhead kick that was almost as beautiful as his chiseled jawline.

Looking at things more widely, Thomas Tuchel can take plenty of positives from his side’s performance as a whole.

Before Giroud’s freakishly brilliant strike settled the game in the second half, there were plenty of signs that Chelsea were slowly piecing together the right combinations to break down their joy-sapping opponents.

Many sides have registered monstrous amounts of possession when facing Atletico in a European knockout tie, but Chelsea were part of a select few that actually managed to threaten their opponents.

Key to this were the displays of supporting forwards Timo Werner and Mason Mount. Their approaches to breaking down the home side’s defence varied, but both were effective at points. Werner opted for lightning quick exchanges on the edge of the box with Giroud. This tactic paid off on several occasions as well, with the German looking the sharpest player on the pitch by some distance.

Mount, meanwhile, drifted around in the half spaces, looking to switch the play quickly with a deep cross or set free his teammates with an incisive pass. These pair of young upstarts were supported by Chelsea’s wing backs whose runs helped to force overloads in wide areas. Jorginho’s long, crossfield passes were important as well.

This contest was billed as a litmus test for Tuchel’s new look side and the results were extremely positive. Breaking down Atletico is one of the toughest tasks any European side can be posed but the Blues rose to the challenge, showcasing invention in the final third to establish themselves as favourites to progress when the pair meet for the second leg on 17 March.

In a transfer window as dull as January 2021, you could be forgiven for quickly scrolling past the news of Jean-Philippe Mateta signing for Crystal Palace on loan from Mainz.

The 23-year-old had managed seven goals in 15 Bundesliga appearances for the German side during the first half of the season. A decent haul, but as names go throughout Europe’s top five leagues, his is not instantly recognisable for the average football fan.

But if you weren’t aware of him before Monday night, you will be now. Unless you didn’t fancy Crystal Palace vs Brighton and used the evening to take a break from the constant football. Then you obviously won’t be… Anyway, you get the idea.

Palace have had quite a massive striker problem for a while now. Christian Benteke’s form has nosedived over the past couple of seasons and while Jordan Ayew is as hard a grafter as you’re likely to see, he was never going to be the long term answer to that goalscoring problem. Great to have in a squad like Palace’s, yes, but a permanent fixture as a striker? No.

It was only Mateta’s second Premier League start on Monday, his first coming against Leeds in the 2-0 defeat earlier in February. He lasted just over an hour then and was a substitute for their next game against Burnley.

He made little impression in either, but made the most emphatic contribution during a first half which Brighton dominated.

Ayew was the provider on the wing, doing Dan Burn on the outside and crossing low into Mateta’s feet. The Frenchman swivelled perfectly to meet the ball, placing it perfectly with a backheel past Seagulls goalkeeper Robert Sanchez for the game’s opener.

Perhaps what was most impressive about his creative finish was just how little of the ball he had received. Mateta was a lone figure as Brighton pressed and probed around the Palace box.

As has often been the case for the south coast side under manager Graham Potter, their pretty football came to little, and instead it was Mateta who applied the finishing touch in the 28th minute with just his eighth touch of the ball.

Whereas opposite number Neal Maupay seemed to get in the way with his touches in Palace’s box during that first half, Mateta produced a moment of instinctive brilliance.

Palace in general have been quite mixed over the past few weeks, with wins against Wolves and Newcastle helping to allay any potential relegation fears. But with Wilfried Zaha sidelined since that victory over the Magpies, there have been worries over their attacking potency.

On Monday night though, just two moments of quality that exploited weaknesses in Brighton’s backline proved enough for Palace to take all three points back to Selhurst Park.

Christian Benteke’s effort was arguably the better of the two, a brilliantly controlled volley that flew low into the bottom corner. It was a great result for manager Roy Hodgson, both in seeing his two strike options net important goals as well as picking up all three points in general.

The gap between Palace and Brighton now stands at six points. If the two strikers can find a bit of form, it may only widen between now and the end of the season.