Morgan Rogers: What We Know About Chelsea’s Tactical Plan, Position and Palmer Linkup

A Chelsea player has hinted at an unexpected system being deployed by the new boss.

Xabi Alonso (left) oversaw Morgan Rogers’s arrival at Chelsea. | Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Getty Images

Some of Chelsea’s transfers during the BlueCo era have felt entirely devoid of any overarching strategy.

Aside from the one consistency of handing out lengthy contracts, so many of the club’s recent deals appear, from the outside looking in, to have been sealed on a whim, be that to gazump a local rival or simply hoard a youngster on the gamble that his potential is realized.

As talented a player as Morgan Rogers clearly is, it wasn’t immediately apparent why Chelsea spent $155.8 million (£117 million) to add a 24-year-old left winger/attacking midfielder to a roster already littered with left wingers and attacking midfielders in their mid-20s.

However, unlike all Chelsea’s past transfers, this one was made with Xabi Alonso’s direct seal of approval. And the new manager has very much arrived with a plan.

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What Position Will Morgan Rogers Play for Chelsea?

Morgan Rogers completed his move to Chelsea after a whirlwind of negotiations. | Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Getty Images

Like so many modern coaches, Alonso was quick to hail Rogers’s versatility. “I think that one of his best qualities is that he’s flexible,” the former Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid coach told assembled media this week.

However, Alonso hinted that Rogers will mostly be deployed in a central attacking midfield role. “I think that he [will be] in that pocket position, close to the striker, close to the other 10,” the Basque boss explained. “But he’s played as well on the right side as well, but I think that more coming from the left, coming from that position, we are playing that he feels that he’s enjoying his game, that he feels his flow.

“I think that he will have good connections with the other players that he can have around him. So if we get those connections right, those little associations between them that they look for each other and they connect well, I think that it will be a great step forward in the quality of our game.“

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What Formation Will Chelsea Use Under Alonso?

A new era at Chelsea gets underway. | Ayush Kumar/Getty Images

This is the big question. Many have assumed that Alonso will revert to the 3-4-2-1 system which worked so well for Bayer Leverkusen during an unbeaten Bundesliga winning 2023–24 campaign.

In that setup, Rogers could easily assume the left No. 10 spot alongside Cole Palmer and behind the striker, most likely João Pedro.

This would also suit summer recruits Geovany Quenda—who was converted into a wingback by Ruben Amorim at Sporting CP—and Marco Palestra, the $62.6 million signing who impressed so much as a buccaneering force down the right for Cagliari last term.

Xabi Alonso is widely expected to go with a back three. | FotMob

However, Jamie Gittens offered a hint at something different. The injury riddled orthodox left winger already saw his opportunities slashed when Niko Kovač shifted to a back-three system during his final season at Borussia Dortmund. Yet, Gittens didn’t appear concerned by history repeating itself this term.

“I think [Alonso’s style can suit him as a winger]. Last season was a 4-3-3 as well with two wingers which is always good, so let’s just see,” the 21-year-old told the Daily Mail after his first few training sessions under Alonso.

Faced with the prospect of keeping Vinícius Júnior, Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham happy, Alonso did deploy a 4-3-3 at Real Madrid last term, which became increasingly less experimental while he (unsuccessfully) fought to keep his job amid a locker room mutiny.

“We will be flexible in our tactics, in our approaches, game plans,” Alonso warned this week. “For sure the ideas, the principles of what we want can be the same. But we have tried and we will try different ideas, mainly because these players have done it.

“So it’s not that I’m changing everything. It’s about updating, developing something that they have done with new concepts that each manager has. But the good thing is that many things that I like they have already done. So now it’s about changing or updating a few other things.”

Should Alonso be plotting a similar formation at Chelsea with Rogers in that “pocket position,” it could have a major impact on Cole Palmer.

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How Chelsea Can Fit Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer Into the Same XI

Last season was a tough one for Cole Palmer. | Robin Jones/Getty Images

Palmer’s presence at Chelsea was a major positive for Rogers. The two firm friends from England and Manchester City’s youth teams have never played a senior club match alongside one another, yet that is expected to change at Chelsea.

Alonso made it abundantly clear that the pair would play together: “I have a plan. I have an idea. I can see them linking really well.” He just failed to mention quite how that would look.

While their shared roles in a 3-4-2-1 would be straightforward to imagine, there are plenty of options in a 4-3-3. The safest bet would be to play only one of Rogers or Palmer centrally—likely with Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo—while the other decamps to the wing (see the top two options below).

There are a lot of options for Xabi Alonso. | FotMob

Alonso could alternatively go for the bold approach of lining up with both in dual attacking midfield roles with just one defensive midfielder behind them—a strategy which may be best saved against weaker teams.

Pep Guardiola used this system during his first Premier League title triumph at Manchester City, pairing Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva in front of Fernandinho in roles which the Belgian midfielder described as “free eights.”

There is even the possibility of Alonso using Palmer (or Rogers) as a false nine in place of João Pedro, should he seek to have even more control of the midfield.

For once, a Chelsea transfer appears to come with a plan. In keeping with the culture of excess pervading through the BlueCo era, there isn’t just one.

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