I remember when Thomas Tuchel took over the reins of Chelsea from Frank Lampard not long ago and came in and completely changed things in his first game.
I think he dropped Mason Mount, put Callum Hudson-Odoi at full back and changed the formation to 3-4-3 if I remember correctly. This was the beginning of what was to come under Tuchel, and it was the lineup he continued with and stayed with to a great extent. It was what he ended up trusting and supporting the most with the players that he had.
His first major task was to fix a leaky defence, and that’s mainly why he moved to a three-defence, and for a long time it worked.
Tomorrow night, Graham Potter will take the reins from Tuchel and present his first formation and line-up. The Blues welcome RB Salzburg into the Champions League and it will be a great first game for Potter to take charge. The pressure will be immediate, and that’s why I think we won’t see big changes like Tuchel’s in his first match. line up.
Potter, of course, also prefers the back three most of the time, but is known to be very flexible with formations. But in terms of tomorrow’s starting line-up, at least for now, I expect it to be business as usual and more or less the same set-up that we’ve grown accustomed to seeing with Tuchel.
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The only difference is perhaps in midfield, where Potter might prefer a three to a two. I think it may be two or three games before we see how Potter could turn things around and implement his own real style of different formation and setup. I think it would be very smart for him to continue with what the players know, at least for tomorrow.
I think it can be something like this:
(3-5-2): Kepa; Fofana, Silva, Koulibaly; James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Mount, Cucurella; Sterling, Aubameyang.
Obviously it looks like Edouard Mendy is out injured alongside N’Golo Kante, and I think Mount could start as a ten. We’ll see! Excited for his first game!
