Xabi Alonso might have been more interested than most to see Chelsea’s starting formation in the FA Cup final on Saturday.Chelsea’s incoming new manager made his reputation as one of Europe’s most coveted young coaches at Bayer Leverkusen, implementing a sophisticated 3-4-2-1 system that powered one of the most impressive seasons in the modern history of European club football in 2023-24. His dynamic young team claimed the Bundesliga title and DFB Pokal (Germany’s FA Cup equivalent) and lost just one of the 53 matches they played across all competitions: the Europa League final against Atalanta.Interim head coach Calum McFarlane’s pragmatic game plan in a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City at Wembley yesterday did not quite give off Alonso-at-Leverkusen vibes, but his decision to line Chelsea up in a 3-4-2-1 formation did at least present an early opportunity for the Spaniard to see how suited various players in the current squad might be to similar roles in the Spaniard’s team next season.Alonso’s football at Leverkusen was built upon the principles that many modern coaches embrace: aggressive pressing, with control and creation through possession dominance. But his team distinguished themselves through superior organisation with and without the ball, exploiting space to play to the specific strengths of their personnel.His three-man defence regularly featured two ball-playing centre-backs either side of a more physical one, but the team as a whole was asymmetrical.Alejandro Grimaldo, the left wing-back, functioned as one of the primary playmakers, dropping deep to make a back four if circumstances required and overlapping or underlapping when he attacked. Jeremie Frimpong, the right wing-back, was frequently the furthest man forward. The two men generated a combined 19 goals and 20 assists in the Bundesliga in 2023-24.Despite being arguably the best long diagonal passer of his generation as a player, Alonso generally discourages that sort of ball as a coach, preferring to keep the distances between his players shorter in order to facilitate passing combinations and ensure his team are always in good position to counter-press if possession is lost.Instead of being found by quick switches of play, Grimaldo and Frimpong would often become involved in moves higher up the pitch after the ball had worked its way through Alonso’s midfield box (consisting of the two deeper midfielders and two No 10s). Granit Xhaka was the midfielder primarily tasked with threading progressive passes through opposing lines, while Florian Wirtz would often receive these with space to turn and run towards goal.Xhaka was key to Alonso’s system (Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)Leverkusen’s alignment in possession was essentially a 3-box-3, which will be familiar to Chelsea fans from Enzo Maresca’s tenure over the past two seasons. But instead of full-backs inverting into midfield and wingers hugging the touchline, that team featured attacking wing-backs carrying a level of threat in the final third much more akin to Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses under Antonio Conte, or (sadly all too briefly, due to injuries) Ben Chilwell and Reece James during Thomas Tuchel’s time at Stamford Bridge.It is unclear whether James’ often-injured body will still allow him to perform a role which requires him to cover so much ground at high intensity. Malo Gusto is athletically capable of being the Frimpong at Chelsea, but has not demonstrated the same level of aptitude in front of goal. There is no analogous player in this squad to Grimaldo; Marc Cucurella, the man who has displaced him in the Spain team, is positionally smart but a more effective off-ball runner than on-ball playmaker.