IT WAS another game of attack versus defence for Chelsea over in Sweden in a match that pretty much mirrored a training session.
Nobody was expecting miracles from Malmo, and to be fair to them they actually pressed Chelsea very well and gave them a bit of a battle, which was much different to the Stamford Bridge version of this match a couple of weeks back when the Blues beat them 4-0.
Chelsea huffed and puffed in the first half but they couldn’t find the breakthrough.
It resembled the Newcastle game from Saturday a lot, and in that instance it was up to two Reece James goals to break the deadlock with a bit of quality.
On this occasion Chelsea turned to their manager Thomas Tuchel to give them the answers.
The Blues went in 0-0 at half time frustratingly looking for a way through, and it was a tactical tweak from the clever Tuchel that allowed Chelsea to find that all important goal to break the deadlock and come away with all three points.
The German coach swapped Callum Hudson-Odoi from the left side of the attack to the right side, and did the same with Hakim Ziyech, but switching him from the right to the left.
This enabled Hudson-Odoi to have more freedom without Marcos Alonso playing so close to him and almost getting in his way as such.
Hudson-Odoi had a lot more space and time to create over on the right and that is where the goal came from.
An inch perfect pass from the young winger found Ziyech, who was now arriving from the right after the tactical tweak, to finish off the move.
Tuchel once again proves his tactical knowledge is among the best in world football right now, and the reason why every big team would love to have him as their manager.
On another day, or even if Tuchel did not make this tweak, Chelsea could be going away hugely frustrated after being held to a point by Malmo, who have not even registered a goal in this competition so far, let alone a point.
But instead due to a decision at half time from Tuchel, Chelsea won the game and go away with all three points.
These are the small little details that win you titles, and Chelsea are dead lucky to have Tuchel.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
