Phil Neville has pinpointed the defensive weakness in Chelsea's setup that Hull City exploited to earn a 2-2 draw in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. The result extended Chelsea's run without a clean sheet to 20 consecutive league games, their worst such streak in 65 years.
Chelsea took an early lead when Morgan Rogers scored after just eight minutes, but newly-promoted Hull turned the game around with two goals in eight first-half minutes. Mohamed Belloumi capitalised on defensive errors from Jorrel Hato and Emiliano Martinez to score a quickfire double. Joao Pedro equalised for Chelsea after the break, but the Blues were fortunate to escape with a point as Oli McBurnie and Mohamed-Ali Cho missed late chances for the visitors.
Neville's tactical analysis of Hull's approach
Speaking on NBC Sports, Neville praised Hull's attacking play and tactical flexibility, noting that many expected the visitors to 'park the bus' but instead they targeted a specific weakness in Chelsea's setup.
'We felt before the game, Hull were just going to park the bus, but they did not do that,' Neville said. 'I think what they obviously did, they saw weaknesses in the Chelsea set-up defensively. There was lots of space on that right-hand side, in behind Neto.'
'They created chances, they high-pressed, they were hard to beat. I thought it was an outstanding tactical performance from Hull. I thought that was a top coach's tactical performance. You know, sometimes when you get these teams coming up, they just park the bus.'
Alonso criticises Chelsea's 'soft' defending
Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso criticised his side's 'soft' defensive display after the game, saying there are no easy fixes for their poor record at the back.
'It will take time to or it will take moments to fix them when we get the lead and you still need to be competing and not to give the chance so easily for them to come back, especially in the first goal, we can do much better,' the Spaniard said. 'It was too soft to give them this hope because until then we were controlling, we were creating chances, but that momentum that we had changed the mood and the score of the game and it's something that we need to be talking [about], we address and we will get better, but it's having an impact on our performances at the moment.'
Alonso emphasised that any team in the Premier League can hurt his side from any situation. 'Today it was from a long ball, two bounces, the way it happened. You need to be very aware, very ready that the danger can come from any situation. If you are soft or if you are not prepared, you will get punished and we have been punished that way.'
Neville impressed by Hull's attacking play
Neville highlighted Hull's man-for-man marking, mid-block defensive shape, and the close proximity of their defenders as key tactical elements. But he was most impressed by their attacking output.
'He went man-for-man at times. He was mid-block at times. His defenders are never, ever far away from each other. But I thought what impressed me most today was their attacking play. I thought tactically, attacking-wise, they picked the holes; they found the spaces. I thought they deserved probably more than the point.'
Chelsea will look to return to winning ways next Friday when they face west London rivals Brentford.
