Pointing Fingers: Another Confused Pressing against Genk

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After the back to back league defeats to QPR and Arsenal, we all "bounce back" in our minds as Chelsea travel to Belgium to take on Genk in the Champions League. Boy, we were wrong. After going ahead with a goal by Ramires, Chelsea failed to finished the opposition off. David Luiz's penalty was saved and Genk came back strong in the second half, and deservedly got the equalizer.

In this post, we will look at how that equalizer was scored and try to figure out what went wrong -- who's to be blamed for the goal. My initial thought was that Ramires was at fault for not tracking the run of the Genk player who crossed in the assist. But after watching the replays, I came to realize, as many of my Twitter friends (you know who you are) pointed out, that Jose Bosingwa was the main culprit in this case (Update: see After Thought). Let's do photo-analysis, shall we?

                                                                     

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Picture 1. The Pass Going out to Kevin de Bruyne

When Genk started this attack, there were 8 Chelsea players, not including Cech, behind the ball. The back four is looking after three Genk attacking players as four Chelsea midfielders sit in front of the back line. There are six active Genk attacking players in and around the two Chelsea defensive blocks (Kevin de Bruyne is not in the frame). The goal scorer Jelle Vossen (red square) is at the far post, looked after by Ashley Cole (black square). Jose Bosingwa (light blue square) is closest to Fabien Camus (yellow square) who will provide the assist for the goal.

The situation, at this very moment, does not seem very threatening but you can kind of see that mistakes are about to be made. Ramires (blue square) pushes up towards the player with the ball. And seeing that the player with the ball is about to pass to de Bruyne on the left, Bosingwa prepares to move the left too. So, we have two Chelsea players peeling away from Camus at the same time.

Picture 2. de Bruyne Passes to Camus

So, when de Bruyne gets the ball and Camus (yellow), totally unmarked at this point, makes a run in behind Bosingwa (light blue). See this, Ramires (blue) turns back and chases Camus. The goal scorer Vossen (red) is now making a dash in the back post. Now, this is no longer an innocuous situation. We have an opponent behind the defensive line and two more in the middle rushing to receive the service.

Most of the damages have been done at this point, so, let's just get the blaming out of the way. I can understand that Bosingwa was trying to press de Bruyne hard, but there was no good reason to go out to the left as fast as he did, especially if it meant he would leave a player, whom he's already marking, totally unmarked.  

Sure, the rule of zonal marking is that once you switch your marking target, your teammate is supposed to pick up the target that you have left. When Bosingwa goes out wide, either Ramires should drop back or Ivanovic should push up to close down Camus. However, the problem is not that Bosingwa went out wide but he unnecessarily rushed to de Bruyne, leaving no time for either Ramires or Ivanovic to fill in the gap he had left. If de Bruyne was left unmarked in Picture 2, the worst he could have done was maybe put in a dangerous cross into the box -- a less threatening alternative to what actually happened.

Picture 3. Camus Prepares to Cross

If you compare Picture 2 and 3, you can see that Ramires (blue) actually did pretty well to catch up to Camus (yellow). As the Genk midfielder prepares to cross, the Genk forward between Ivanovic and Luiz pushes forward, dragging both Chelsea center backs with him. The goal scorer Vossen (red), meanwhile, is closely marked by Cole (black) [Am I being racist?]. But Vossen pulls off at the last second and moves across the goal (black line), while Cole keeps running towards the back post (white line). This creates a little pocket of space for Vossen 12 yards out from the goal.

Picture 4. Vossen Scores

When the low cross comes in from the left, Vossen has enough space and time to pull the trigger. If I were even more of a stickler than I already am, I would put a little bit of blame on Cole too, for losing Vossen. But that will be too harsh. This kind of thing happens at breakneck speed and it only takes a split second for Vossen to change the direction of his run. So, hats off to him for making that smart move; I will let Cole free of charge this time.

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Football is a team game. So, I hate to single out one player for the blame. But, in this particular case, Jose Bosingwa should bear the majority of the charge. The right back should have been a little bit more patient before switching from one marking target to another. He should have at least communicated with his midfielder or center back better in this kind of situation. 

We have seen the good side of Bosingwa in the beginning of the season -- bombing down the right, initiating attacks, putting crosses in and even scoring one brilliant goal. Lately, though, we have only seen the bad side of Bosingwa -- being a defensive liability, both in open play and set-pieces. So with the clean sheets hard to come by for Chelsea, the question now is -- does Villas-Boas stick with Bosingwa for his attacking contributions or find another option (quite possibly Ivanovic)?


After Thought: Some of you have rightly pointed out that Fernando Torres also did not do his share of pressing up front -- letting the initial passer to de Bruyne (in Picture 1) dribble past him as if he wasn't there. If Torres did a better job of pressing, this goal may have been avoided. Instead of adding more pictures to this post, I will just admit my oversight and shift some, not all, of the blame from Bosingwa onto Torres. Thanks for the insightful comment (you know who you are).   

Carefree, wherever you may be...