Why Chelsea Should Apply Spain’s Strategy in 10-0 Victory vs Tahiti

We’re still in summer transfer window which means we don’t have Chelsea match to watch. But we don’t really have nothing to watch though. As there are Euro U-21 competitions and Confederations Cup. Definitely it’s not as fun as watching English Premier League or Champions League, but as the summer transfer window goes on, it’s interesting to watch some matches due to having closer look at our transfer targets. But there’s another thing that interests me. It’s something tactical. Despite I don’t like Spain national team, I have to say La Furia Roja have the best talents mixed by tactical brilliance thanks to the coach Vicente Del Bosque.
Vicente Del Bosque is a coach with great tactical knowledge. In World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012, eventhough Spain played boring (read: tiki-taka) football in overall, Del Bosque managed to use various systems that most people didn’t really realize. For examples, see how he used strikerless strategy which is known as false 9 when his strikers were unreliable but still winning. Personally, I think he’s better than Pep Guardiola because the former Barcelona manager is too offensive and one sided. In other words, almost having same players, Barcelona was very poor defensively under his regime. Meanwhile under Del Bosque, Xavi-Busquets-Iniesta-Fabregas play possession football but much better defensively. In Confederations Cup, Del Bosque surprisingly made the best use of his striking duo David Villa-Fernando Torres in 10-0 victory against, well yes, Tahiti.
No, I’m not gonna tell you that I wish Del Bosque to coach Chelsea. But still it’s not a weird thing if I’m trying to imagine his one or two strategies to be adapted by Chelsea. Especially against Tahiti one, which was very brilliant football tactically. So I’m trying to imagine if Chelsea use his formation with current available players at the moment. This is only imagination though, as I fully believe our beloved Jose Mourinho knows the best strategy which suits his team the most. Let’s have a look at Spain strategies in 1-0 victory against Tahiti: 1 team, 1 match, 4 changing formations. And imagine if Chelsea use the same too*):
*)Sorry for the pictures lol
4-3-3

Spain, on the paper, used 4-3-3 for a start. With Javi Martinez as the only Defensive Midfielder, David Silva and Santi Cazorla played a bit deeper than their usual positions at their club. However, Santi Cazorla is more versatile and used to play in deeper role (Central Midfielder or even Deep Lying Playmaker) during his time at Villareal and Malaga. That said, he’s quite comfortable in that position unlike David Silva. Juan Mata and David Villa played as wide forward with our very own 200k-a-week Fernando Torres played as central forward. But that picture above doesn’t really reflecting on how things were going. Those Spaniards mostly play possession football with dynamic movements so the 4-3-3 didn’t totally applied. Not only because the players tend to short passes, but also the type of the  players were too good to play rigid football or stay discipline during attack.
As for Chelsea, Ramires is comfortable in such position. I imagine Mourinho uses Oscar a bit deeper like Del Bosque did to Silva. Mind you, Oscar has much better work-rate than Silva and probably better than Cazorla but he needs to adapt to this position first. Interchange football from Mata-Hazard with their authentic touches to each other is set to offer more options to the striker. We simply can use this formation comfortably since Mourinho is very familiar with 4-3-3 and we still have Lampard to play if Oscar couldn’t really suit this formation.
4-2-3-1

Spain transformed many times to 4-2-3-1with Cazorla still sat deep and Silva focused on final third. This formation, however, is the most familiar by any parties involved: Jose Mourinho at Madrid, Chelsea under Andre Villas-Boas, Roberto Di Matteo, and Rafa Benitez, know this formation very well. Luckily, we already signed Schurrle which is gonna be different than anyone at Chelsea last season. He can cut inside, dribble, and score from that area. Mata-Hazard-Oscar can still do their usual interchange but this time, Oscar has to play deeper. Not a big deal but this formation is the most suitable for Chelsea at the moment.
4-1-3-2

This is the actual formation that Spain played against Tahiti. With Javi Martinez stayed behind as defensive midfielder, all creative players focused on attack. This formation works very well since Tahiti never really gave Spain any threat. Chelsea could apply this formation as Mazacar are familiar with interchange between them in final third. We could also use Schurrle as supporting striker for the target man as the German is familiar to play in that position during his spell at FC Mainz. However, this formation is very dangerous if we’re up against strong teams. The space in the defense will be easily exploited and it’s gonna be huge task for the defenders. With that in mind, this formation should only be used against weaker teams.
3-5-2

And this is arguably the most interesting formation that used by Del Bosque in that match. With Nacho Monreal (sorry, my mistake when created the pictures) and Azpilicueta marauded and tracked back tirelessly, the creative players had more chances to penetrate from the middle while still have more options from both flank since the winger (or wingbacks) provided more width. So many options here: cut inside, cross from bylene, etc. This formation is really risky, so this only used occasionally when they really had a chance to do so.
Jose Mourinho is quite familiar with this system though. As last season he used this formation when his team needed a goal or two. However, Jose Mourinho still managed to use different approach in both flanks. Unlike Del Bosque who uses fullbacks on both flanks, The Special One used one winger (Di Maria) on the left and one versatile midfielder (Khedira) on the right.
Chelsea are rarely use this type of formation but sometimes Mikel standing in line with center backs just to cover the widen center backs when the fullbacks going forward. But that doesn’t mean we use proper 3-5-2. However, after Mourinho personally had a phone call with Ramires, it’s believed that Ramires’ versatility will be the key in Mourinho’s plans. With him on the right flank and Mata on the left, it’s a bit similar to  the style Mourinho used. Some of you might think it would be wasteful to use Mata on the left but I refuse to believe that. Yes, Mata’s best potential only fulfilled when he plays centrally but he made a very good performance as left wing in 4-3-3 under AVB.
Conclusion
The key for Chelsea in applying those formations are Ramires, Schurrle, and how Oscar or De Bruyne develop as central midfielder. With Jose Mourinho is in charge, it’s interesting what approach he will use. Since we have more offensive options in midfield, I hope Mourinho won’t pushes defensive players to play higher from their natural positions like Di Matteo did to Bertrand just to seek some balance in the squad. With that in mind, the formations used by Vicente Del Bosque in clash against Tahiti will not be difficult to be used by Jose Mourinho at Chelsea. Much better for us if Chelsea’s Torres transforms into Spain’s Torres week in week out.