As for Pulisic, he was full of dynamism on the right. Later he was dropping deep to play a glorious ball through to Havertz. At one point Sterling moved in from the left to start a flowing one-touch passing move. They pushed high, drifted inside and swapped flanks a lot. Neither Sterling nor Pulisic was under instruction to do much defending against Salzburg. A loan to Union Berlin beckons next summer. Sterling has played at wing-back in four of Potter’s first nine games and is goalless in his past eight appearances. It was a risky ploy from Potter, who could have more surprises in store when he returns to Brighton on Saturday, and it is hard not to wonder whether it is sustainable, if only because it is doubtful this is what Sterling had in mind when he joined Chelsea from Manchester City.Īt first glance, the player who was supposed to be Chelsea’s main attacker finds himself doing a job for the team. View image in fullscreen Christian Pulisic playing as a wing-back for Chelsea in this week’s Champions League game at Salzburg. In reality the former Brighton manager’s system against Salzburg had Jorginho screening the defence, Mateo Kovacic and Conor Gallagher driving forward from central midfield, Kai Havertz accompanying Aubameyang up front and, most fascinatingly, Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic as the wing-backs. ![]() With Potter, though, part of the fun is trying to work out where the players are going to be when the starting XI is announced. The system looked familiar: three centre-backs, two wing-backs and, in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a striker failing to convert some easy chances. What is this madness? A cursory glance at Chelsea’s team sheet when they beat RB Salzburg on Tuesday might have suggested that not much has changed since Tuchel’s sacking. ![]() Out went Tuchel and in came Graham Potter, who has wasted no time introducing Chelsea to an intriguing, slightly wild tactical concept: the wing-back as auxiliary winger, a nominally defensive position used as a mode of attack, trust occasionally placed in the back three to fend for themselves. The dynamic at Chelsea changed after he joined Leverkusen. The thought occurs, though, that Hudson-Odoi might have been better off waiting.
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