XABI ALONSO has been warned about a potential weakness in one of his bold new strategies.
The Chelsea manager debuted a unique tactic against Arsenal that saw him leave a number of his players near the halfway line while defending a corner.
The idea is to force your opponent to keep some players out of the box, or risk suffering a devastating counter attack.
But things did not go quite to plan when Alonso used the same trick against Hull City the following week.
While a number of attacking threats stayed forward, Hull were able to knock the ball down in the barren penalty area, before Mohamed Belloumi fired in a deflected effort to score his second of the day.
Jamie Carragher and Rob Edwards teamed up to break the goal down on Monday Night Football, and highlighted why they are not convinced by the corner strategy.
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Carragher opened: “It’s interesting here in terms of Chelsea’s tactics, we highlighted this against Arsenal, they put four up.
“You put four up that means they have got to bring players back, but I think the man-marking situation in the box, there’s so much more space for the attacking player to move.
“I sometimes think when you’re attacking a corner, there’s that many bodies there it’s hard to actually get a run or move.”
Former Wolves boss Edwards then chimed in: “You’re always going to give something away, whatever you do.
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Friday 18 September
Brentford
20:00
EPL
Chelsea
Saturday 19 September
Spurs
12:30
EPL
Villa
Brighton
15:00
EPL
Arsenal
Everton
15:00
EPL
Ipswich
Newcastle
15:00
EPL
Hull
Forest
17:30
EPL
Coventry
Monday 14 September
Leeds
4 – 1
EPL
Newcastle
Sunday 13 September
Man Utd
0 – 1
EPL
Man City
Coventry
0 – 5
EPL
Brighton
Saturday 12 September
Sunderland
0 – 2
EPL
Arsenal
Spurs
0 – 0
EPL
Everton
English Premier League
Pld
Pts
GD
W
D
L
Form
1
4
12
7
4
0
0
2
4
12
6
4
0
0
3
4
8
4
2
2
0
4
4
8
3
2
2
0
5
4
7
8
2
1
1
6
4
7
1
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1
1
7
4
6
3
1
3
0
8
4
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2
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0
“You bring everyone back then you might have people saying why can’t you leave one up or give us a counter-attacking threat.
“They obviously feel its the best opportunity to free up more space in the box, take some of the bigger threats out, trust in the big defenders to be able to do their job and deal with that first contact and give them a huge counter-attacking threat with the players you’re leaving up.”
It all went wrong when Belloumi was able to find space on the edge of the area and was not closed down before he was able to blast his strike at goal.
Edwards added on the moment: “They’ll talk about that and they’ll work on it and they’ll say look if anything comes out, whose getting out there quick to be able to close it down? It’s going to be the nearest man throwing themselves in front of it.”
Friday 18 September
Brentford
20:00
EPL
Chelsea
Saturday 19 September
Spurs
12:30
EPL
Villa
Brighton
15:00
EPL
Arsenal
Everton
15:00
EPL
Ipswich
Newcastle
15:00
EPL
Hull
Forest
17:30
EPL
Coventry
Monday 14 September
Leeds
4 – 1
EPL
Newcastle
Sunday 13 September
Man Utd
0 – 1
EPL
Man City
Coventry
0 – 5
EPL
Brighton
Saturday 12 September
Sunderland
0 – 2
EPL
Arsenal
Spurs
0 – 0
EPL
Everton
English Premier League
Pld
Pts
GD
W
D
L
Form
1
4
12
7
4
0
0
2
4
12
6
4
0
0
3
4
8
4
2
2
0
4
4
8
3
2
2
0
5
4
7
8
2
1
1
6
4
7
1
2
1
1
7
4
6
3
1
3
0
8
4
6
2
1
3
0
Friday 18 September
Brentford
20:00
EPL
Chelsea
Saturday 19 September
Spurs
12:30
EPL
Villa
Brighton
15:00
EPL
Arsenal
Everton
15:00
EPL
Ipswich
Newcastle
15:00
EPL
Hull
Forest
17:30
EPL
Coventry
Monday 14 September
Leeds
4 – 1
EPL
Newcastle
Sunday 13 September
Man Utd
0 – 1
EPL
Man City
Coventry
0 – 5
EPL
Brighton
Saturday 12 September
Sunderland
0 – 2
EPL
Arsenal
Spurs
0 – 0
EPL
Everton
English Premier League
Pld
Pts
GD
W
D
L
Form
1
4
12
7
4
0
0
2
4
12
6
4
0
0
3
4
8
4
2
2
0
4
4
8
3
2
2
0
5
4
7
8
2
1
1
6
4
7
1
2
1
1
7
4
6
3
1
3
0
8
4
6
2
1
3
0