How Chelsea looked under Antonio Conte’s new 3-5-2 formation

After back-to-back defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal, Antonio Conte completely changed his system for Chelsea’s victory at Hull City on Saturday. At both Juventus and Italy, Conte was known to favour a system with three centre-backs with Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini forming a solid defensive unit. But since arriving at Stamford Bridge, Conte has lacked the required personnel to employ his favourite system with Kurt Zouma a long-term causality and both John Terry and Gary Cahill more accustomed to a traditional four-man defence. In the transfer market, Conte’s admiration for Bonucci failed to materialise into a transfer, while a move for Napoli centre- back Kalidou Koulibaly also failed. The result was a deadline day move for David Luiz who rejoined the Blues for £32m from Paris Saint Germain. John Terry’s ankle injury forced a Luiz- Cahill partnership which was pulled to pieces in defeats to both Liverpool and Arsenal, so for the trip to Hull, the Italian tried something different with a 3-5-2 system. So how did it work out on first viewing? With club captain Terry failing a fitness test, Conte was forced to go with Luiz and Cahill at the heart of the Chelsea defence again. Branislav Ivanovic was dropped as Cesar Azpilicueta was picked as Conte’s third centre-back, while summer signing Marcos Alonso came in as left wing-back with Victor Moses starting on the opposite flank. The match was Moses’ first Chelsea start since May 2013. Defensively Chelsea were quite fragile to begin with, with Luiz in particular struggling to cope with Hull forward Dieumerci Mbokani, but once the team settled there was very little for Chelsea’s defence to have to deal with. The wing-back system worked well throughout the match with Moses and Alonso seeing plenty of the ball and, obviously, providing good width. In terms of things to work on, the respective deliveries of Alonso and Moses will need to improve but signs were promising. A word of caution though, Hull were extremely poor and Chelsea’s defence was rarely tested, especially as the game progressed. THE MIDFIELD… Conte’s midfield saw a massive shake-up as well with Cesc Fabregas dropped back to the bench, and Willian brought in to form a three alongside Nemanja Matic and N’Golo Kante. But unlike previous games, Kante was deployed in a far more advanced position and regularly found himself breaking into the box; a far cry from his Makelele-esque role with champions Leicester City last season. Matic was tasked with the deep-lying defensive role, with Willian on the right of the three given the license to drift out-wide at times. Willian would also advance quickest of the three on the counter, as he did to open the scoring for Chelsea with a fabulous curling strike. The midfield area was where the match was really won for Chelsea as Kante, Matic and Willian along with Alonso and Moses out-wide, dominated possession all game, starving Hull’s rather passive trio of Samuel Clucas, Markus Henriksen and Ryan Mason. THE ATTACK… Once again, Diego Costa led the line for the Blues notching his sixth of the season with a sumptuous finish into the top corner which clinched the points for Conte’s side. Eden Hazard, who usually starts on the left, was given a much freer role with license to float pretty much wherever he wanted to behind Costa. Consequently, the Belgian was finding space and picking up the ball in central areas, which caused havoc with Hull’s defence. Hazard was the best player on the pitch in the first-half, but only showed flashes of class in the second period. SUMMARY… It’s a very promising start if Conte is to persist with this new system. The Italian’s changes worked well, despite a slow opening 45 minutes, and Hazard looked far more of a threat when he received the ball and dribbled towards defenders in his central position. But the first real test will be after the international break when Chelsea host Leicester City and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.