Monday
Night Football experts Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher took an in-depth
look at Chelsea's 2-1 victory over Tottenham.
And they explained how Antonio Conte's tactics surprised Tottenham in the
first half - and how Mauricio Pochettino failed to respond after the break.
Marcos Alonso scored twice to earn the away side the win at Wembley, despite
Michy Batshuayi's 82nd-minute own goal, but Neville said Chelsea's midfield
shape was crucial to their success.
Spurs beat Chelsea 2-0 at White Hart Lane last season with Dele Alli scoring
twice and Christian Eriksen proving influential - but they were able to
nullify both of those midfielders on Sunday.
In the video below, Neville showed how the decision to play David Luiz in
central midfield alongside N'Golo Kante and Tiemoue Bakayoko meant Alli and
Eriksen were forced out of the game.
Carragher said that few would have expected Conte to employ those tactics -
but he felt Pochettino should have responded by changing things at
half-time.
In the video below, the Sky Sports expert showed how Chelsea's approach left
them very narrow - and allowed Ben Davies and Kieran Trippier plenty of
space on the flanks.
And he felt Spurs should have overloaded those areas more often than they
did during the game.
But despite winning at the home of the team who finished second in the
Premier League last season, Neville does not expect to see Conte use these
tactics very often.
"I don't think they'll play like that every week," he added.
"That was, to me, designed for one opponent and one game. I'm not saying we
won't ever see it again, but last season they had some pain with Alli and
Eriksen and I think it was designed for a one-off.
"They were up against it, as well. He took a step back to go forward in that
it was a defensive performance and they only had 32% possession.
"For me it wasn't the normal Chelsea team we are going to see every week in
terms of style, but I have to say I think it was a good tactic for the day.
It worked."
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