Time for Thomas Tuchel to experiment after Chelsea's defeat to Manchester City

Tuchel must experiment after Chelsea's 3-4-2-1 is overwhelmed

There is nothing inherently wrong with the cautious tactical approach that Thomas Tuchel chose in Chelsea's 1-0 defeat to Manchester City, it's just that a risk-averse defensive system always looks like the wrong call when it doesn't work.

Tuchel will be accused of lacking ambition, but when he made a double substitution in the 69th minute, bringing the pace of Timo Werner and Callum Hudson-Odoi on to get behind tiring Man City centre-backs, things were going OK.

The tactical plan was to keep things tight, slow the game down by any means necessary, and then use the last 20 minutes to try to nick the points. It's an approach that Chelsea fans are used to seeing under Jose Mourinho, and while Tuchel's system was nowhere near as defensive as that there were notable similarities.

It was bad luck that Kevin de Bruyne scored within 60 seconds of those substitutions.

That being said, Man City were very good value for their win. Another flawless performance from Pep Guardiola's team showed the inherent flaws in Tuchel using a 3-4-2-1 for this fixture - by outnumbering them on the flanks and centrally.

On the wings, Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish hugged the touchlines and were joined by Bernardo Silva or Kevin de Bruyne, giving the Chelsea wing-back the problem of a two-v-one.

Often Cesar Azpilicueta or Marcus Alonso were forced to rush towards the ball, opening up a gap between wing-back and wide centre-back for Man City to exploit. Joao Cancelo did this best, sliding clever passes into the channel, including a brilliant ball that assisted De Bruyne's winner.

Centrally, Chelsea's two-man midfield was swallowed up by City's three – and the work of Phil Foden as a false nine. It always felt like Tuchel was making a mistake by not putting a third body here and by leaving Mason Mount on the bench, and so it proved. Mount's presence would not just have helped Chelsea defensively, either.

The visitors' depth and caution may have been planned, but the lack of chance creation was not. Tuchel was unhappy with his players' inability to take advantage of transition opportunities, and while Romelu Lukaku had an exceptionally poor game the manager ought to take the blame for this.

Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner, attempting to track City's dominance down the wings, were caught between playing as wide midfielders in a flat 5-4-1 and getting close to Lukaku. Doing neither well, the Chelsea striker was isolated and Tuchel's side never found their rhythm on the break.

It was a disappointing performance and yet further proof that it may be time for Tuchel to be a bit more flexible in his approach. The 3-4-2-1 has clear limitations, and a system with more attacking players on the pitch would probably help solve the creative block.

Tuchel did switch to a 4-2-3-1 for the closing minutes, to little effect, but it may be worth persisting with this. Chelsea need to get more direct attackers onto the pitch out wide, rather than rely on the likes of Ziyech and Pulisic to wriggle free in congested central areas, and they need someone to link Matteo Kovacic and N'Golo Kante to Lukaku.

The title is over now for Chelsea, who are 13 points behind Man City but eight clear in the top four. There is space for Tuchel to experiment, to find a series of formulas that he can flit between in next season's title race.

Coutinho's explosive start shows Gerrard understands him

Aston Villa were on top before Philippe Coutinho took to the field, but like so many of their early matches under Steven Gerrard they lacked a spark; lacked something to turn assertive, Klopp-influenced possession football into a meaningful end product.

The Brazilian's dream debut, an assist then a goal to help Villa come back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Manchester United at Villa Park, was evidence Coutinho can be the missing piece in the jigsaw.

Villa will remain rough around the edges in this transition period, too progressive and ambitious in their style under Gerrard to avoid glaring errors like the one made by Morgan Sanson ahead of United's crucial second goal.

But unforced errors aside, Villa were the better team for the majority of the contest as Ralf Rangnick's rejigged 4-2-3-1 failed to assert consistent pressure on the Villa goal.

Once again, Man Utd were strangely lacklustre, unwilling to press with any consistency and thus allowing the more confident team to slowly stamp their authority on the game.

Jacob Ramsey and Emiliano Buendia had particularly good games for Villa, ensuring the hosts made use of how the Christmas Tree 4-3-2-1 provides a numerical advantage in central midfield, but by far the more important tactical note was how Coutinho immediately settled into the system.

Perhaps that should not come as a surprise.

Coutinho only impressed in flashes under Jurgen Klopp until he was moved into a free eight role (where he was briefly deployed by Villa on Saturday night) in the final six months, amassing 12 goals and nine assists in half a season to earn a move to Barcelona.

What Klopp showed was that Coutinho is best operating exclusively in the half-spaces, not shunted out to the left where he is forced to cut inside.

At Barcelona, he was initially successful in Ernesto Valverde's 4-2-2-2 – playing in an inside forward position very similar to the left-sided ten in Villa's 4-3-2-1 – before falling out of favour when Valverde switched to a wider 4-3-3.

Since then at Bayern Munich and Barcelona, Coutinho has been playing out of position, from the left wing.

He thrived instantly at Villa Park, taking up his trademark position in the left half-space to provide Villa with impetus at just the right moment; his assist for Jacob Ramsey's goal was a moment of pure Coutinho magic, a quick-footed jink and pass that unlocked the United defence in a way nobody else in the Villa squad could.

Steven Gerrard was Liverpool captain for five years while Coutinho was developing at Liverpool. He knows the player as well as anyone and, judging by Villa's comeback, he will get the very best out of the Brazilian - simply by being the first manager in four years to play Coutinho in his actual position.

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