Mauricio Pochettino's critics will point towards his consistent use of players outside of their natural positions on a weekly basis. Pochettino's supporters will say given the blanket of injuries for his squad there has been little choice but to put square pegs in round holes.
Pochettino himself will say that it is no excuse but that reality bites for Chelsea. Reality, in this case, looks like playing four centre-backs in the absence of fully fit full-backs.
Given that the season started with Ben Chilwell, one of the best wing-backs or attacking full-backs in the league, operating on the left-wing in order to bring control to a team lacking experience, age or many combined years of coaching basics, it shouldn't be a surprise.
When Pochettino did briefly have more than one fit full-back, Chelsea were scoring or conceding four per game for a period of around one month. That chaos was unsustainable for a team that needed to find some sort of foundation to build from. Add in two long-term injuries out wide and the need for some height in a team that wouldn't win headers wearing stilts, Pochettino's Tony Pulis era began.
Often built on physicality, Pochettino needs his teams to be robust and that just isn't a word that fits enough of his most glitzy team on paper. It is in this world that Chelsea passed the ball sideways and backwards for 45 minutes against Sheffield United with little penetration, relying on the imposing but clunky figure of Axel Disasi for width on the right.
Where Reece James once used to rampage, Disasi laboured. It is understandable in this situation that a 25-year-old designed for his heading away, kicking away and general Antonio Rudiger-likeness, didn't offer much competition to Trent Alexander-Arnold
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