Followers of English Football who waited in anticipation for a more fluid Capitol One Cup final at the New Wembley Stadium as a result of Tottenham Hotspur’s attacking style of play and the possibility of Chelsea coming all out with vengeance mission in mind, may have found the game between the two London Clubs a bit below expectation, no thanks to the tactical approach deployed by the effervescent Portuguese born soccer tactician, Jose Mourinho.
The Chelsea boss haven noticed that the Blues 5:3 loss to Spurs in the Barclays Premier League earlier in the season was due largely to the fast and fluid play in the midfield as well as attack of Tottenham Hotspur, decided to deploy promising Chelsea central defender Kurt Zouma to the defensive midfield role to replace the suspended Nemanja Matic, who apart from his defensive prowess, has the creative flair that other Chelsea midfield and attacking players leverage on.
Like what Mourinho did with Pepe at Real Madrid whenever he played Barcelona, the Chelsea gaffer featured Zouma in the defensive midfield to assist Ramires in frustrating Spurs’ skillful and fast pace midfielders, who often make the team’s wingers as well as strikers very dangerous.
The Chelsea boss whose greatest asset is understanding the psychology of his players, used the speed and ‘ruggedness’ of the young French defender, Zouma to frustrate the open play of Spurs, while Cesc Fàbregas was equally asked to remain deep at Chelsea half of the pitch with occasional runs upfront. And on few occasions, Fàbregas surged forward and Willian moved deeper into the middle of the pack as cover up.
Even Eden Hazard most times provided cover in the midfield, thus leaving Brazilian born Spanish striker, Diego Costa most of the times upfront alone in Chelsea’s attack. Little wonder, Spurs Manager, Mauricio Pochettino described Jose Mourinho as “the best Manager on Planet Earth”.
Mourinho knows John Terry, Garry Cahill and the ever industrious defensive strong man, Branislav Ivanovic are not the quickest rear guards, hence his strange but effective deployment of Zouma to the midfield.
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