Bournemouth’s pressing triggers were well timed to always apply pressure in an athletic stance to the back of Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke when they received facing their own goal, while curving the structure of their press to block off the pass infield.

When goalkeeper Robert Sanchez or left center-back Levi Colwill had the ball, Justin Kluivert would cover shadow Moises Caicedo. The obvious goal would be to force the ball to the right side of the pitch. The left side was fairly congested.

When the ball was played forward down the right wing, Bournemouth would immediately push into the back of Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke to not allow them to turn out into the other half with the ball.

Justin Kluivert would follow the ball out wide, and someone else would then shift to cover shadowing Moises Caicedo to not allow the ball to be played centrally from Palmer or Madueke to Caicedo.

Bournemouth would hand off their marking assignments to one another, depending on where the ball was, to maintain a curved structure ahead of the ball, forcing the ball backwards even if Cole Palmer was given time and space on the ball to turn and find the pass out to Noni Madueke.

Like Moises Caicedo, the goal was also to block off the pass centrally into Nicolas Jackson’s feet. For example, in Figure 2.1, Justin Kluivert presses wide and then switches marking assignments with Marcus Tavernier to cover shadow Moises Caicedo. That then allowed Kluivert to move to mark the space Nicolas Jackson would attack.

This was one of the smart ways they escaped this pressure. Cole Palmer positioned himself to the outside of Noni Madueke. That would force Lewis Cook, who was marking Palmer, and left-back Milos Kerkez, who was marking Madueke, to switch marking assignments. When they switched marking assignments, that would create enough space for Noni Madueke to turn infield, to the inside of Cook.

This pressure was applied to both sides of the pitch, and it did not let up until midfielders Ryan Christie (18th minute) and Lewis Cook (35th minute) received a yellow card. Once they received their yellows, they could not go into challenges in the way that was needed to stop Chelsea from turning when they received the ball facing their own goal. They had to let off because of that, plus Bournemouth grew tired. They didn’t maintain that same high level of pressure for the full 90 minutes.

Chelsea’s forwards, especially Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer, seemed uncomfortable when they had to deal with the physicality Bournemouth applied to them when they received the ball facing their own goal. Part of this is due to the speed at which Bournemouth’s defenders were moving. They perfectly timed their movement to be tight and, more importantly, in motion when their opponent took their first touch. They never sat still, flatfooted. It was always first touch, immediate pressure in motion, react, and then possibly draw a foul.

Match: Bournemouth 0-1 Chelsea, 14 September 2024