Bournemouth and Chelsea drew 0-0 this Saturday and showed different versions of themselves during the 90 minutes.
It wasn’t the most entertaining affair at Vitality Stadium as the Cherries and the Blues cancelled each other out. But it doesn’t mean there weren’t some interesting tactical points to go over.
How did Andoni Iraola and Enzo Maresca try to outsmart each other?
Strong Bournemouth start
Bournemouth were their usual self from kick-off. Andoni Iraola had his players pressing high and getting stuck in early on. It actually took Chelsea a few minutes to adjust to the high intensity. They suffered and gave the ball away more than once inside their own half in the beginning.
And their style complements Bournemouth’s fast-paced attacking movements, which definitely helped the hosts at first.
The Cherries’ asymmetrical 4-1-4-1 had a well defined trio of Alex Scott, Justin Kluivert and Marcus Tavernier inside, with right-back Alex Jimenez and Antoine Semenyo out wide.
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Their out-of-possession look was rather interesting, as Semenyo chased Malo Gusto – who tucked inside – for long distances. This left a void in the left wing and striker Evanilson was usually the one to fill it.
Enzo Maresca noticed how ’empty’ Bournemouth’s right side became as a result and invested in his attacking left corridor to try and generate opportunities. Most of their few chances came from there, and they managed to string together a few good passing sequences down that side. But not much more than that.
The Cherries were the better side in the opening 45 minutes despite not involving Semenyo as much as they could in their plays. In one of the few times they did, it was his cross that led to an Evanilson missed sitter following a Robert Sanchez deflection. This was far and away the best chance of the game.
| 1st half stats | Bournemouth | Chelsea |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 35% | 65% |
| Shots (on target) | 10 (4) | 3 (0) |
| Expected goals | 1.2 xG | 0.2 xG |
| Big chances | 1 | 0 |
Chelsea’s different approach in the second half
Seeing his team struggle in the first half, Enzo Maresca changed the outlook of the match after the break. He set his team up to attack on fast breaks and counter Bournemouth’s actions – and it worked brilliantly at first.
Chelsea took more shots in the first five minutes of the second half (4) than in the entire first half (3). It was their best moment in the game and they even hit the post with an Alejandro Garnacho header.
By the 65th minute, the Blues only had 51% possession, but more shots (5 to 2) and expected goals (0.4 xG to 0.1 xG). Unfortunately for them, however, they wouldn’t do much more after that. Maresca’s men fired four times in the first five minutes and only four other throughout the rest of the game.
But it was still a more lively and back-and-forth match than the first half, with both teams charging forward and often leaving space behind.
Cherries’ and Blues’ woes continue
Neither Bornemouth nor Chelsea benefitted from the draw. Both teams needed a win and saw the 0-0 maintain their current win droughts, now at six games for the Cherries (D2 L4) and three for the Blues (D2 L1).
It was also yet another match of them struggling to create good goalscoring opportunities, something that seemed to come naturally before.
Right before the current poor sequence started, Bournemouth were in a four-game run of 2+ goals scored (10 overall). Today’s second half proved once again how much they need space to run in order to create.
Meanwhile Chelsea were riding high after three straight wins – including a 3-0 one over Barcelona in the Champions League. They also managed to snatch a point against leaders Arsenal despite playing with 10 men for over 60 minutes.
Since then, however, they lost to Leeds and drew against Bournemouth looking like the worse team on both occasions.