McFarlane explained his tactical plan which undid Leeds using “athletes” and Robert Sanchez | OneFootball

Chelsea’s performance against Leeds today was not a classic, but it was a very controlled and efficient performance, which their coach explained.

If you enjoy Chelsea News coverage and want to see more of it, add us as a preferred source on Google to make us a favourite and see more of our content.

Chelsea’s interim coach Calum McFarlane was very cagey in the pre-match press conference and in the build up to today’s win over Leeds. That’s no surprise – he was in a very difficult position, and wouldn’t want to give anything away or say anything which could disrupt things.

With the result secured, he was able to speak more freely however, and his explanation of his team’s game plan was really interesting.

McFarlane on the plan to break down Leeds’ high press

“Exactly,” the caretaker boss responded to Steven Gerrard when asked if the plan was to “pin” the Leeds back five in place.

“We knew they were at their most dangerous when we had deep possession, they were going to come man for man. We wanted to negate that by going longer, force them to drop and create a bit of fear in them, because we’ve got athletes in our top line.

“Then once they dropped we’ve got space to play. AndI though Enzo’s position was brilliant… We took control of that, and I’m really pleased with how they carried that out.”

You can see McFarlane speaking in the clip embedded here:

[Footage from TNT Sport]

In other news…

Enzo Fernandez’s header won the game, and his manager had some really interesting things to say about it after the game.

McFarlane also spoke about one key decision he had to make in his team selection in defence.

DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL CHELSEA NEWS APP FOR ALL THE LATEST UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON THE APP STORE

Check out the latest edition of Simon Phillips’ SPTC podcast here: