Chelsea vs Brighton Tactical Review: How Wesley Fofana Fixed CFC Issues for Maresca

[@slaythezeppelin]

I was curious to know who would tackle the analysis of Maresca’s nugget of in-game tactical adjustment, and super glad it was you CFCCentral! Awesome vid man

[@cfccentral3]

@@slaythezeppelin thank you so much! I wish I could churn these videos out faster but watching the game back plus editing 105 images takes so much time :(

[@footballfan5048]

​@@cfccentral3Is it possible to find ways to use a video footage? Maybe mix it up between videos and photos.

[@cfccentral3]

@@footballfan5048 I would ideally love to (and have tried) but KZbin is brutal with copyright strikes. Don't want to lose all my hard work because of it. I use the video analysis on my Twitter/X!

[@ameyajayakar]

Excellent analysis mate. Wes Fofana has been unfairly criticized for his performances by many fans (including me) but this video has helped me understand his importance to the team. Cheers 🍻

[@cfccentral3]

@@ameyajayakar thanks Ameya! Yeah he's had a rough time of it lately but was very good against Brighton

[@wx-01]

Top work Sam. This was so enlightening.

[@cfccentral3]

@@wx-01 thank you for taking the time out to watch it!

[@modisaotsiletau9919]

Beautiful analysis

[@cfccentral3]

Thank you very much!

[@essaarif1292]

Thank you, Sam, you are the best.. On Enzo, I love him, but he needs to work on the defensive side of his game..

[@cfccentral3]

@@essaarif1292 thank you for watching! And well on Enzo, he tries, but he's not physically brilliant as such so you have to be mindful of who you match him up with

[@footballfan5048]

I'm sure Maresca originally want to keep Gallagher for this very reason. Just think about how much balls Gallagher will win on the final third. It would be massive. Personally I would rather sell Reece than Conor. And unfortunately that's the way the club decides to operate by selling academy players for full profit on the book so they can reinvest more with amortization.

[@lindanicolle9929]

If you watched the match you will know Sanchez caused the two goals not the defender

[@adepahlovequansah1702]

Wow this is by far the best analysis ive seen after Chelsea's win against Brighton. Please ive not been seeing your videos quite often. Be doing more of these after every Chelsea game and please let them come fast😀. I love the fact that you provide screenshots and writings to support every argument you make. Bravo and please once again be posting more of these videos and you don't keep us especially myself waiting 😂. Ive subscribed Thank you

[@cfccentral3]

@@adepahlovequansah1702 thank you so much for your generous praise, kind sir! I do my best to put these out as soon as I can but it's an incredible amount of work as I have to edit 100-120 images. But I promise to try my best! Thanks so much for watching!

[@sauravpaul9637]

Top top analysis. Great insight

[@cfccentral3]

@@sauravpaul9637 thank you Saurav!

[@aech98]

TOP analysis here! Thank you for the explanations 🫡

[@cfccentral3]

@@aech98 thank you so much for watching!

[@sikulumelu1sinyangwe648]

Great analysis. With all the hype about Palmer from the media, yet you managed to highlight this lad's flaws. Palmer needs to help his friends with defending.

[@cfccentral3]

@@sikulumelu1sinyangwe648 ah thank you! He's such a brilliant attacker and this is just one of the few things he can build and improve on. Some of his defensive aspects are great, he reads passes really well and makes great interceptions. But tracking, indirect pressure... That's what takes him to the next level. It's only his second season, I expect him to improve

[@Fava_27]

Another banger from Sam. Thanks for your work

[@cfccentral3]

@@Fava_27 no, thank YOU for taking the time out to watch it!

[@waterthecan]

super interesting. i think out-of-possession nuances are the hardest part of tactics to grasp for people new to the whole actually-analyzing-the-game thing like me, so i love that you go into such detail on topics like this--seeing the play examples from the end of the video and actually being able to understand what you're pointing to due to having learned from the earlier examples is very gratifying lmao. my main (non-tactical) takeaway: maresca will lose some tactic battles (as in, pre-game tactics) -- but our individual quality should be enough to still win games on many of those occasions. we may have tactically lost the first half but that was also when the actual game was won. a possible video idea: on the recent LiB brighton review pod, you compared the game to friday's WSL game against palace--about the off-the-bench quality, iirc. i hadn't realized before that you watch cfcw too, and i think it'd be incredible if you did any sort of tactical analysis on cfcw! with full and unfortunate honestly, i have no idea what sonia's tactics actually are, past the obvious player position switches, and therefore even more have no clue about small (to me lol) details like fofana's half-and-half position. would be fascinating tbh

[@cfccentral3]

@@waterthecan thank you so, so much for your lovely reply! Yeah there's just an incredible amount of detail in one sequence let alone 90 minutes of a PL game. This is a 15 minute video packed with JUST the Brighton build up + Wes tweak (I had to leave a few out for the sake of being efficient.) And I love CFCW too haha, I'm watching Sonia's work quite keenly. Perhaps a few games down the line I'll be able to do something on it, once I've seen more of players that haven't played but are expected to be part of her core (OJF, Kerr, etc.) Really appreciate such a detailed reply and I hope you enjoyed the video!

Wow, Excellent video! Definitely sharing this👏👏👏

[@cfccentral3]

Thank you so much! Best kind of encouragement for a creator haha

[@awudusule6662]

That's brilliant keep it up you have a new fan❤👍

[@cfccentral3]

@@awudusule6662 thanks so much bro!

[@AbreaunHadley-tw8lz]

Great work again Sam 👏

[@cfccentral3]

@@AbreaunHadley-tw8lz thank you so much, glad you enjoyed it!

[@nwankwovictor349]

I am really impressed by this tactical breakdown... Happily you have got me included because i am the cfc fan that loves to see how Coaches adapt to opposition tactics and Maresca is one to bank on .. great video.. more in-games breakdown will always find me watching them thanks

[@cfccentral3]

Thanks for watching bro, glad you enjoyed it!

[@kanykristo4084]

Enzo does the defensive work of Palmer, helps caicedo, break the defence lines of opponents, create assist and people wants him to score. How can one person perform 4 duties on the field

[@cfccentral3]

@@kanykristo4084 It's true that you ideally want your attackers to focus on attacking but in the PL now it is simply impossible to function as solely an attacker. Palmer's interceptions and reading are top notch, but his tracking isn't. It will take time. Saka is a reference point in that regard, terrific going both ways and works incredibly hard in every aspect. Palmer a better attacker imo, but Saka better at oop stuff. It's just Palmer's 2nd season though so long way to go

[@oreoluwaokuwobi]

​@@cfccentral3 Enzo is quite terrible at duelling in general, gets bypassed too easily whether in his own third or opposition half, wish Lavia had a better fitness record, we're better without Enzo.

[@Gcaga23]

Good work👍

[@cfccentral3]

@@Gcaga23 thank you!

[@dubsthenewdub]

Great analysis bhai, subscribed! Do you think Andrey Santos could come in and play the Enzo role next season? I'm still bullish on Enzo's attacking talents and reading of the game. He just seems to move slower than others which means they are always one step ahead of him when he's defending.

[@cfccentral3]

@@dubsthenewdub thank you for watching bhai. And absolutely. when I did the scouting report for Andrey before he arrived, I marked him down as a possible generational talent. He can play as a 6 or 8 comfortably and is far more athletic, defensively solid than Enzo. Enzo of course the better passer and more able on the ball in terms of technical efficiency, but in this system, especially with a passer like Caicedo, I feel he'd be very good

[@sharath123able]

great work sam, how you rate maresca as a tactitian and his ingame changes

[@cfccentral3]

Thanks Sharath! I was cynical when he joined, I watched a lot of Leicester but he didn't make a lot of changes there. He's adapted very well here, easing off on the heavy man-to-man marking, experimenting with players in different roles, playing a fully rotated XI. Very anti-Italian manager things! In-game management has so far been quite good, picks up on issues quickly as well.

[@nwankwovictor349]

Now i know why Maresca so much believe in Cowill cum Wes Fofana partnership...🎉 Kudos bro... You're doing well

[@Veald]

great video

[@cfccentral3]

@@Veald thank you good sir!

[@waltermudavanhu1874]

Thanks

[@cfccentral3]

@@waltermudavanhu1874 thank you!

[@412049037]

Top analysis You can have a career in video analysis

[@cfccentral3]

@@412049037 haha thank you so much! I have actually done this professionally for ESPN, I hope to do it for The Athletic or someone big someday!

[@davebern4238]

Wow, subscribed. Keep putting up videos like this and this channel will grow so fast.

[@cfccentral3]

@@davebern4238 thank you so much, hoping to do my best!

[@sidhann.1011]

Aag laga đi bhai 🔥

[@cfccentral3]

@@sidhann.1011 shukriya bhai!

[@GD_14-10]

No midfielder in the league is matching up with Baleba when it comes to speed n athleticism. You’d do well by just saying that, not practically making it seem like Enzo is the only one getting spun by him. 😂😂

[@cfccentral3]

@@GD_14-10 if it was Caicedo on him, 100% it would have been a different game. Enzo got spun by Wieffer too in the first sequence.

[@kingsleyjackson3059]

We don't really care about Palmer off the ball work rate😂

[@casanova3679]

Fofana would not have to do all that if Palmer did his job of covering one of brighton's midfielder. I know he scored goals but so did Haaland and Debryune and they still track back

[@muqm7062]

Great vid Bro. But I think you should change your logo. Its ugly

[@cfccentral3]

@@muqm7062 haha thank you so much for the honest feedback! Shall definitely try and get it changed

[@ayodejiakinyemi]

Well done Sam. Can I just suggest that you add a low volume soundtrack to the analysis. It will make a world of difference

[@cfccentral3]

@@ayodejiakinyemi thank you so much my bro! Do you mean like an ambient music track? Can do so for certain

[@footballfan5048]

I disagree. I think just voice is good because there's really not a lot of silence and it's packed with information.

[@calm123]

Enzo Fernandez is the biggest problem on this squad honestly

[@10Zenil]

just make sure to never talk about football again. and i know exactly why you hold grudge against enzo and it's nothing to do with football

[@kanykristo4084]

Stop lying and stop watching football.

[@kanykristo4084]

​@@10Zenilthe thing is becoming boring

[@onyewekevictor9346]

You're really dumb lol

[@shaibuvictor2984]

Chelsea scored 4 goals but as usual, Sam would highlight only on the negatives.

[@cfccentral3]

@@shaibuvictor2984 With all due respect my friend, these aren't negatives. Every PL match between good sides is a chess match, Brighton put us in a tough situation, I'm highlighting how we fixed it. Problem solving isn't a negative at all. I'm not here to breakdown superficial stuff, I'm trying to tell the game's story. This was the narrative for me, and Wes Fofana was the unsung hero behind Palmer.

[@shaibuvictor2984]

@@cfccentral3 Ok mate