Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea – FM26 Tactical Concept
Liam Rosenior has been announced as the new Chelsea head coach, replacing the recently departed Enzo Maresca.
Rosenior joins the club from Strasbourg, Chelsea’s sister club in the BlueCo group, following a relatively successful two-year spell.
In his time at Strasbourg, Rosenior almost masterminded a stunning away victory against PSG, and built one of the most promising, young sides in Europe.
The Spare Man – Rosenior’s High-Risk, High-Reward Build-up
Liam Rosenior is of the ilk of football’s current trend-setting coaches, looking to dominate possession in games and always thinking outside of the box to find creative ways to enact his ideal game.
Rosenior’s side are one of the best teams in the world in the build-up phase, and a large part of that is down to their use of goalkeeper, Mike Penders.
When Strasbourg are building up, Penders is positioned abnormally high, often in-line with the team’s centre-backs – sometimes, even as high as close to the halfway line!
This is showcased by his intriguing seasonal heat map, as seen below:
As Penders advances so high, it allows one of Strasbourg’s wing-backs to move even higher in build-up, creating a +1 advantage somewhere else on the pitch or pinning the opposition’s defenders deep.
At Chelsea, it’d be a shock to see this occur within a similar 3-4-3 set-up, due to the lack of ideal profiles Chelsea possess to fill these roles – however, this could occur within a 4-2-3-1, as showcased below:
De Zerbi Build-up Principles
Liam Rosenior’s build-up shape, with the ‘keeper moving higher, creates a +1 somewhere else on the pitch.
To source said numerical advantage, Rosenior’s side uses a lot of De Zerbi’s principles, such as third-man passes and fluid rotations to off-set the opposition’s high-press.
Initially, Penders will dwell on the ball to try and encourage the opposition to press higher – if successful, he’ll release the ball short and Strasbourg can begin to try and find the spare man.
Strasbourg perform a lot of ‘up, back, and through’ patterns, with the ball being sprayed in-behind for attackers, or the wing-backs, to chase often.
To allow for these patterns to occur, Strasbourg predominantly focus their passing in central areas, with the two ‘10s’ in their 3-4-3 system using wall passes back to the double-pivot, who can release a wing-back in-behind.
Let’s Break Down the Tactic
In Possession:
Rosenior, as aforementioned, uses a lot of De Zerbi’s build-up principles to optimise his side’s build-up play; this includes the ‘keeper baiting the opposition’s high-press, and constantly looking to play through the opposition’s pressure using short passes.
Once they’ve progressed from build-up, Rosenior wants his team to primarily focus play in central areas, with his side’s box-midfield proving vastly effective here.
From here, with the opposition forced to tighten their block, there is space out wide for wide players to attack space in-behind, akin to that of flying full-backs/wing-backs.
Rosenior’s system gives his players the platform to express themselves and find solutions between themselves and with each other – usually at a higher pace.
Out of Possession:
When his side loses possession, Rosenior wants them to immediately counter-press to try and regain possession.
When the opposition are building up, Rosenior demands his side to be aggressive in trying to force opposition mistakes, pressing high in a man-to-man system.
When his side doesn’t have possession for sustained periods, he sets his team up in a ‘high-block’, of which can quickly transition into the aggressive, man-oriented high-press if the opposition are forced back – from within this ‘high-block’, Rosenior wants his team to force the opposition into wide areas, wherefrom they can be less effective.
Player Roles
Ball-Playing Goalkeeper | Sweeper Keeper:
For this role, I took inspiration from Rosenior’s use of Mike Penders, who moves very high in build-up tp become the extra man in possession.
The ‘keeper is an imperative part of Rosenior’s system.
When Chelsea don’t have the ball, I expect the ‘keeper to be called on again to do extra-curricular activities in sweeping loose balls in-behind the defence.
Advanced Wing-Back | Full-Back:
In this system, I’ve asked the ‘right-back’ to become a faux right-winger in position, albeit from a more familiar and adaptable right wing-back position.
This is to allow the right-sided centre-back to move into a right-back position to help form our 4-2-5 build-up shape.
From this position, the ‘right-back’ is asked to stay higher and wider – as Rosenior’s widest players tend to do.
When we don’t have the ball, this player is instructed to return back to his classic right-back position to preserve a solid defensive structure.
Inside Full-Back | Centre-Back:
The right-sided centre-back, in this system, is pushed to a right-back position in-possession to create a gap for the ‘keeper to fill, creating Rosenior’s distinctive 4-2-5 build-up shape.
From this position, the ‘right-sided centre-back’ acts just like a centre-back in sustained possession – particularly higher up the pitch.
When we don’t have the ball, he’s asked to return to his natural centre-back position.
Ball-Playing Centre-Back | Centre-Back:
The left-sided centre-back, in this system, is asked to aid deep progression through line-breaking, penetrative passes forward.
This supplies our creative ‘10s’ the ball and subsequent opportunity to link play.
Inside Full-Back | Full-Back:
On the left-side, the left-back is far more reserved than the ‘right-back’, as he’s asked to sit deeper and narrower to create our back-three in-possession.
Liam Rosenior is of the tactical ilk of managers who currently adore the 3-2-5 in-possession set-up – that’s reflected in this tactical concept.
Deep-Lying Playmaker | Pressing Defensive Midfielder:
Rosenior’s sides tend to include a double-pivot midfield set-up, and I predict this will remain in his tactical set-up at Chelsea.
As part of this tactical concept, I want Chelsea’s double-pivot to remain at the tip of our 3-2 rest defence.
On this side, I chose this role to platform Chelsea’s squad more optimally, playing to Reece James’ strengths, such as his elite passing and generally impressive technical quality.
From here, he can drift wider into a faux ‘quarterback’ position and launch pinpoint, direct passes into the attack ahead of him.
As, in-possession (due to his role) James will often drift slightly higher, I wanted him to use this as a platform to be more aggressive than his midfield counterpart out-of-possession, often breaking the side’s structure to press the opposition and mark the opposition’s deepest midfielder.
Defensive Midfielder | Defensive Midfielder:
In this position, I wanted Caicedo to be the more reserved both in, and out of, possession, opting for simpler, shorter passes – this naturally counteracts James’ comparative adventurousness and directness.
When we didn’t have the ball, I wanted Caicedo to remain slightly deeper, cleaning up any mess left in the shadow of James and his higher positioning.
Shadow Striker | Centre Forward:
Rosenior’s Strasbourg included a lot of central flexibility, with the two ‘10s’ and striker taking it in turns to either drop deeper or run in-behind.
The latter suits Enzo Fernandez to a tee, who has a knack for making runs in-behind and crashing the box late.
However, to replicate the flexibility of Rosenior’s ‘front three’, I’ve applied certain player instructions to his role to encourage him to drop off, hold-up play, and link play more often.
When we didn’t have the ball, I wanted Enzo to move higher to form our front-two in our 4-4-2 out-of-possession shape.
Attacking Midfielder | Wide Midfielder:
I’ve given Cole Palmer a similar role, however, one with more variety and freedom to roam and create chances from himself and his team-mates, as I aimed to bring back Palmers electric 23/24 form.
Wide Forward | Wide Midfielder:
As previously mentioned, the widest players in Rosenior’s side are asked to largely hold the width and focus on pinning the opposition back.
If the opposition’s shape tightens, the wide players can make runs in-behind and supply cut-backs for the team’s ‘front three’ to score.
Centre Forward | Centre Forward:
The striker, in Rosenior’s system, is very complete.
Able to drop deep and link play or stretch the opposition’s defence, the striker is a handful and is very difficult to contain.
I’ve tried to reflect this with my choice of role and instructions.
Results
Premier League:
In testing with Chelsea, we ended up winning the Premier League; of our 38 league games, we won 28 games, drew 5 games, and lost the remaining 5 games!
Across our 38 league games, we scored a league-high 85 goals (2.2 goals per game) and conceded a league-few 29 goals (0.76 goals per game).
Domestic Cups:
We secured our first piece of silverware for the season at the first time of asking, winning the Carabao Cup following a 2-1 win vs Aston Villa at Wembley!
On our way to Wembley, we beat the likes of Nottingham Forest (2-4) and Newcastle (0-1).
We made it a domestic treble later in the season by winning the FA Cup, beating rivals Arsenal 1-3 in the Final!
On our way to the Final, we beat the likes of Crystal Palace (3-2) and Liverpool (3-1).
UEFA Champions League:
Heartbreak.
We made it all the way to the UEFA Champions League Semi-Finals, where Arsenal would get one over us on penalties, following a tight 2-2 draw after two legs.
On our way to the Semis, we overcame Liverpool (3-1 AGG) and Newcastle (4-0 AGG), having finished inside the top 8 of the League Phase.
Read Also
- FM26 Tactics Hub
- FM26 Best Youth Academies
- FM26 Wonderkids by PA, Price & Position
- FM26 Transfer Budgets
Conclusion
Liam Rosenior, whilst relatively unknown as a coach, arrives at Stamford Bridge with a reputation for being one of the most innovative and talented young coaches in Europe, and rightfully so.
His Hull City side were a great watch, and his Strasbourg side have, time after time, exceeded expectations, whilst playing some fantastic football.
With a lot of potential as a coach himself, whilst inheriting one of Europe’s most promising group of players, Liam Rosenior could, very well, end up being the perfect managerial appointment for Chelsea!
If you want a taste of this beautiful tactic, make sure to download the tactic using the link attached to this article and make sure to follow FM Blog (@fmbIog) and myself (@AshtonGgmu) on our respective socials.
I hope you have enjoyed this article, and I wish you much success with this tactic on your saves!
Thanks for reading!
