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27th January 2021
03:31pm GMT

The back three sort of picks itself. Zouma was in excellent form this season before Rudiger came back into the side, while Silva captained PSG under Tuchel and is the ideal candidate to sit between two more mobile defenders. Despite being right footed, Rudiger is comfortable on the left side.
Chilwell and James are their only good full-backs and they both excel going forward, so, again, they pick themselves. Though, a clip from his first training session doing the rounds on twitter suggests Marcos Alonso could be brought back into the fold after being cast aside by Lampard.
Jorginho, as I mentioned, is admired by Tuchel and will likely play a key role in progressing the ball through the lines, as Julian Weigl did during Tuchel's reign at Dortmund.
Kanté hasn't been in his best form this season (or since 2018, to be honest), but his energy remains a valuable attribute in a system reliant on pressing. In this system, he is interchangeable with both Mateo Kovačić and Mason Mount.
With only three forward positions in this system, unfortunately Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech might have to drop out. But playing Werner and Havertz in these inside-forward roles, with less obligation to track opposition full-backs all the way back, and more freedom to drift around central areas, will suit them well.
Werner's best form came playing to the left of a target man in Yussuf Poulsen at RB Leipzig, who allowed Werner to burst behind opposition defences onto flick-ons. In this system Tammy Abraham can play Poulsen's role, while Havertz can play a more creative role from the right, cutting onto his left, and getting into the box to use his underrated aerial presence to get on the end of Chilwell and James' crosses.
This is just one way he might set up. It is equally possible that Tuchel will start with a more familiar 4-3-3, using Jorginho as a single pivot and keeping Mount in the side, while the players get to grips with having some actual tactics drilled into them again, with a team that might look like this.
Just one change to the actual XI, with Mount replacing Zouma, and in terms of personnel, something very close to what Lampard often put out, with Kanté further forward and Jorginho playing in a deep playmaking role, as he did under Maurizio Sarri.
This system would likely morph into something similar to the 3-4-3 outlined above, with Jorginho dropping between the centre-backs to distribute the ball, the full backs pushing up and the wide attackers drifting infield.
Alternatively, Tuchel could experiment with playing Werner and Havertz as a front 2, with Hakim Ziyech at the top of a diamond, similar to the system he used in the Champions League knockout stages last season.
In this system, Werner would be able to operate in the same areas as Kylian Mbappé, making out-to-in runs into the left channel, with Havertz playing more of a facilitating role and providing an aerial threat, while Ziyech roams free behind them looking to find the killer pass.
Tuchel is not wedded to one shape, and not as dogmatic in his tactical philosophy as other top managers, but there will be some core principles he brings to Stamford Bridge: possession based football, counter-pressing, fluid shapes and a lot of rotation, meaning the likes of Christian Pulisic, who he coached at Dortmund, and Callum Hudson-Odoi will get their fair share of game time despite this being their first mention in this article.
However he reshapes Chelsea, it'll be a far cry from the shambles fans have been subjected to in recent weeks.Explore more on these topics: