Chelsea Fan View: Hazard, Willian and Pedro give Conte an attacking selection headache

In some respects Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat of Southampton felt somewhat disappointing. After all, Chelsea battered Southampton with 24 shots and 8 on target – but there was only the one goal to show for it.

If it had not been for the sterling efforts of Southampton ‘keeper Fraser Forster it would surely have been a rout. Chelsea had to settle instead for a 1-0 win courtesy of Marcos Alonso’s free kick on the stroke of half-time and a nagging fear throughout the match that an equaliser or worse was always a possibility.

Antonio Conte has in the past bemoaned his player’s lack of a killer instinct in front of goal. But, it would be harsh to criticise Chelsea for wastefulness against Southampton, an accusation that was certainly valid in the 1-0 defeat to West Ham.

It appears that Chelsea are faced with something of a conundrum up front at this season. Alvaro Morata has shown glimpses of goalscoring form and talent without being completely convincing as a potential 25 goals a season striker.

Chelsea’s only other striker in the squad is Michy Batshuayi. Although Batshuayi has scored nine goals to Morata’s ten this season, the fact that he was not called upon to fill in for the injured Spaniard against Huddersfield in midweek reveals his manager’s lack of faith in him.

Against Huddersfield and also against Southampton, Conte opted for another option. He selected Willian, Eden Hazard and Pedro as an attacking three interchanging frequently but using Hazard as a ‘false’ number nine.

It worked handsomely against Huddersfield in an impressive 3-1 win. It would be too simplistic to say that it failed against Southampton with none of the three up front ending up on the scoresheet in this narrow 1-0 win.

There were times when their movement and interplay was quite simply dazzling. Unlike the West Ham match where Chelsea’s overplaying resulted in very little end product; against Southampton frequent chances were created.

More encouraging was Chelsea player’s enthusiasm for getting a shot off. N’Golo Kante, Marcos Alonso, Eden Hazard, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Pedro, Willian and even Gary Cahill were all keen to pull the trigger when in range. Surely this is preferable to putting in another three passes outside the penalty area looking for the impossible angle or the perfect goal.

On another day they will not be faced with a goalkeeper playing out of his skin and Chelsea would have scored the goals that their dominance, build up play and efforts on goal deserved.

As boss Conte mentioned in the press conference before the match on Friday, playing Willian, Hazard and Pedro as an attacking three is potentially a useful strategy to counter teams whose only ambition is to stop Chelsea playing and keeping the scoreline respectable. With these three buzzing around the opposition penalty area; all flicks, swerves, pace and movement they are much harder to mark and close down than the more traditional ‘target man’ striker.

While I have a more traditional view and prefer to see a classic number 9 banging in the goals for Chelsea, it is clear that the Blues need to be adaptable if they are to break down the stubborn sides they face week in week out in the Premier League.

Conte has proved in his short time at Chelsea that he is a master of adaptability; changing formations, personnel and tactics to keep the Blue juggernaut moving forward.

With a striker as good as Morata at your disposal, he would surely have to be your first choice as an attacking option, but based on the evidence against Huddersfield and Southampton; Willian, Hazard and Pedro up front can work and certainly give opposition teams plenty to worry about.

While Conte might complain about the lack of numbers and quality in his squad, it appears that he may have found another way to get the best out of his resources.

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If the Premier League proves anything, it is the need to constantly adapt and revise your tactics to outwit the sheer bloody mindedness of the majority of the teams you face, all of whom are hell bent on survival.

Thankfully, at Chelsea, we seem to have a manager and a squad of players who can provide a number of options to make this work.

Let’s just hope the opposition goalkeepers don’t perform like Fraser Forster every week.

David Chidgey @StamfordChidge

David Chidgey presents the award winning Chelsea FanCast podcast which can be heard live every Monday at 19.00 at mixlr.com/chelsea-fancast/ or downloaded from Acast, ITunes, Soundcloud or chelseafancast.com @ChelseaFanCast