Could this formation and solution finally be the answer for Chelsea and Maurizio Sarri?

With the nightmare performance and defeat against Tottenham still fresh in our minds, it's clear that something needs to change defensively under Maurizio Sarri. Could a slight tweak in formation be the answer to all our problems?

I personally been calling for N'Golo Kante and Jorginho to swap their positions within the current framework of Sarri's 4-3-3 formation in order for us to be much more effective in the defensive phase without the ball. That is what I personally believe should happen because I am convinced that the formation will not change at all because it's the way the manager likes to play and he has built his tactical approach with this as the base. 

Thinking about it as the days have passed since Tottenham, it's also becoming clear that Maurizio Sarri is not about to change Jorginho playing in the pivot position. He is far to valuable to him for what he can do with the ball at his feet which we do all agree is different class. The problem is what happens when he doesn't have the ball - his lack of defensive quality and the fact that he simply cannot tackle. For such an important role in the hustle and bustle of the Premier League having the ability to win tackles, important tackles is key. As we all witnessed against Tottenham he needs to be moved from that position or have someone play alongside him to help him out.

So to our formation and a subtle change that I believe would suit us, the only negative I can see now thinking about it would be the fact that we would lose one of our box-to-box options in the middle of midfield. However, in order to be defensively better without the ball with additional protection in front of our back four, I believe that it's a small sacrifice to make considering the attacking talent we still have at our disposal. 

The change I am suggesting that Maurizio Sarri makes is switching to a 4-2-3-1 formation with N'Golo Kante playing alongside Jorginho. By making this adjustment we play Kante in his natural position but also still give Jorginho the option to play in the pivot and to use the ball as well as he does. 

It just so happened that before writing this article that I caught this morning Jamie Carragher's evaluation on the problems we currently have with the Kante/Jorginho positions on the Monday Night Football. He explains exactly what I have been thinking in the visual form in the video clip below from SkySports:

Carragher mentions something in the video that had passed me by and I would imagine that alot of people do not give N'Golo Kante credit for - he can play football.

Plenty of us are talking of the fact that you take Jorginho out of the game to stop Chelsea and the fact that we have forced the opposition to adjust their tactical approach in the last two games to do exactly that. What if Kante played next to him giving our back-four an additional option to pass to out of defence as we have seen us do so often this season? You would have to imagine that teams would not want to press on TWO midfielders high because that would leave them exposed if the ball managed to get passed their high press.

By playing Kante and Jorginho next to each other, it would leave Ross Barkley, Mateo Kovacic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek fighting for one position playing in the middle of our attacking three with Eden Hazard wide left and Willian/Pedro fighting for the position on the right hand side. It would also give us an option to play with Hazard in the middle and the other two either side. All playing behind the main striker which is what we had been used to playing for a while.

Chelsea play PAOK tomorrow night and you would expect plenty of rotation in the side ahead of Fulham on Sunday. After Fulham we play Wolves before we face Man City in the Premier League so it gives us a chance to try out the new shape before City.

All I am saying here is that it's clear something needs to change and for me, considering the fact that Jorginho will remain in that pivot role for what HE CAN do with the ball at his feet, it's the only possible solution to give us some defensive stability.

What do you think?