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Xabi Alonso - New Chelsea Manager

I still have concerns about Alonso's game management. He really needs to start bringing on Welbeck, Estevao and Quenda much earlier in the game. I'm concerned he's worried about taking off Rogers/Pedro/Palmer because it might affect their ego.

Everton were a wet lettuce in the second half and he deserves a lot of credit for helping the players believe in sticking to a task. But Everton are a team you can keep scoreless if you limit their crosses, and most teams in the league have many more tricks up their sleeve.
 
SydneyChelsea said:
I still have concerns about Alonso's game management. He really needs to start bringing on Welbeck, Estevao and Quenda much earlier in the game. I'm concerned he's worried about taking off Rogers/Pedro/Palmer because it might affect their ego.

Everton were a wet lettuce in the second half and he deserves a lot of credit for helping the players believe in sticking to a task. But Everton are a team you can keep scoreless if you limit their crosses, and most teams in the league have many more tricks up their sleeve.
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Our front three are fine and enjoying themselves for most of the 90minutes at the moment. One game a week is a less demanding schedule so Xabi is getting it right for the moment. Maybe a bit of rotation and earlier substitutions when we have a midweek game or later in the season, but for now let the front three gel a bit more.
 
SydneyChelsea said:
I still have concerns about Alonso's game management. He really needs to start bringing on Welbeck, Estevao and Quenda much earlier in the game. I'm concerned he's worried about taking off Rogers/Pedro/Palmer because it might affect their ego.

Everton were a wet lettuce in the second half and he deserves a lot of credit for helping the players believe in sticking to a task. But Everton are a team you can keep scoreless if you limit their crosses, and most teams in the league have many more tricks up their sleeve.
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I think that at the moment he wants to break that no clean sheet narrative. So at 1-0 with the clock running down he can rely on Palmer, Neto and Rogers working back and doing some form of defending. Realistically only Quenda would offer that with those changes. Now the "hoodoo" has been broken i do expect him to start using his squad more. It wouldn't surprise me to see a lot of those players against Liverpool in the cup next week.
 
I haven't seen anything from him yet that makes me think he's a quality manager. Mostly we've been reliant on the good form of the front three. And defensively only been better now Caicedo has returned. His subs are very late. But we'll see how the team progresses throughout the season.
 
Zeta said:
I haven't seen anything from him yet that makes me think he's a quality manager. Mostly we've been reliant on the good form of the front three. And defensively only been better now Caicedo has returned. His subs are very late. But we'll see how the team progresses throughout the season.
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I was thinking something like that too... then it occurred to me maybe he's doing that to demonstrate to those on the bench how he wants us to play... Obviously chalk n cheese compared to poundland pep - thank god.
 
Zeta said:
I haven't seen anything from him yet that makes me think he's a quality manager. Mostly we've been reliant on the good form of the front three. And defensively only been better now Caicedo has returned. His subs are very late. But we'll see how the team progresses throughout the season.
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I am not sure what more he can do tbh. He has put together one of the most potent attacking forces in the country. He has had to deal with the heart of his midfield disappearing and it weakening his defence. That midfield is back in place now and he has smashed a much talked about Bournemouth and has won at a historical graveyard, keeping a clean sheet. Other than dealing with the challenges in front of you i am not sure whet else can define a quality manager in 7 games.
 
Not sure this was the type of game you brought on either Quenda or Estevao, imo. Especially the latter, considering he is very poor with his back is to the defender.

It was a very aggressive and physical game, and I question whether those two could have matched the intensity when subbed on. Not to mention we were defending a lead.
 
I think the turn around under Alonso has been impressive, he's had an impressive start to life with us. Also think we're seeing progress and players developing somewhat. Honestly waking up to the fact we might be top 3 by Xmas should results and performances continue to improve. We are starting to look and gel like a team that is gaining confidence. The corner routine where Caicedo mullered the crossbar is another example of things slowly coming together. Completely expect some odd results and bad form along the way but the way we move up and down the pitch more as a compact unit/ team has given me some confidence. Plus, being among league top scorers is making things far more enjoyable to watch.
 
I think the quality has always been there in the squad and all we needed was that experienced head on the pitch and a manager that will come in and manage the players egos a bit. Similar to why Ancellotti was so successful as a manager, he could pick 11 players and let them play their game. The last thing we needed was a Maresca to come in and shoe horn players to suit his system and getting rid of egos like Enzo Fernandez is huge.
 
Sconnie Blue said:
Not sure this was the type of game you brought on either Quenda or Estevao, imo. Especially the latter, considering he is very poor with his back is to the defender.

It was a very aggressive and physical game, and I question whether those two could have matched the intensity when subbed on. Not to mention we were defending a lead.
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Quenda I think would cope well doing that job, but personally I'd have brought both of them for Palmers/Rogers with 10 minutes remaining (and probably Palestra for Neto instead of Hato) because they were all on yellow and just starting to show signs of exhaustion. Cole almost got a red by the end because he couldn't run anymore and lunged himself at Branthwaite.
 
Zeta said:
I haven't seen anything from him yet that makes me think he's a quality manager. Mostly we've been reliant on the good form of the front three. And defensively only been better now Caicedo has returned. His subs are very late. But we'll see how the team progresses throughout the season.
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So basically the secret of being a good manager is having good player. 😁😁
 
I have a suggestion:

W 3-2 Fulham (A)
W 4-3 Brighton (H)
L 1-2 Arsenal (A)
D 2-2 Hull (H)
L 0-3 Brentford (A)

-CAICEDO RETURNS-

W 5-1 Bournemouth (H)
W 2-0 Everton (A)


I suppose we could also note the 14 minutes he managed in the second half against Brighton (we scored once and didn't concede).
 
Zeta said:
I haven't seen anything from him yet that makes me think he's a quality manager. Mostly we've been reliant on the good form of the front three. And defensively only been better now Caicedo has returned. His subs are very late. But we'll see how the team progresses throughout the season.
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Oh yes, I agree, games are as boring as they were under Maresca after all....
 
Sconnie Blue said:
Not sure this was the type of game you brought on either Quenda or Estevao, imo. Especially the latter, considering he is very poor with his back is to the defender.

It was a very aggressive and physical game, and I question whether those two could have matched the intensity when subbed on. Not to mention we were defending a lead.
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I don't think Palmer or Pedro fix those problems. Rogers is the only player who is reasonably physical. Pedro is capable but almost always goes missing when defenders get rough with him, similar to Drogba's earlier years with us. Sending on Estevao or Quenda for Palmer or Pedro doesn't change the physical battle, but it sends on a pair of fresh legs with a message that the team is going to kill them on the counter-attack.
 
7 games in, so far no crazy stuff. So all good. Lack of sub is a concern as it is hard to keep player if you don't give them minutes but this is what I expected.

Many questions back 4/5. But this is not the key, the key for us is how much Alonso can get defensively from the front 3.
Many kept complaining about neto inclusion, honestly the way the front 3 defend at times, no chance Alonso will drop Neto.
 
Bob stark said:
7 games in, so far no crazy stuff. So all good. Lack of sub is a concern as it is hard to keep player if you don't give them minutes but this is what I expected.

Many questions back 4/5. But this is not the key, the key for us is how much Alonso can get defensively from the front 3.
Many kept complaining about neto inclusion, honestly the way the front 3 defend at times, no chance Alonso will drop Neto.
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Nah, this narrative about the front three's defending is tired. Results, rather than observations, are driving the narrative. No one is criticising Barcelona or PSG or Bayern or Arsenal's attackers for their defending. It is a cliche that abounds, whenever attackers do their job but the team leaks goals there's always fault ladled on the attackers for not working hard enough.

They are pressing hard. Rogers is dominating aerially and Palmer is regularly robbing DMs of the ball on the counter-press. Pedro appears to have dropped off, but it seems to be by instruction as when he was 'working harder' under Maresca he was basically playing at CM and was nowhere near where we needed him.

Sure, we could have Rogers, Pedro and Palmer drop and work harder defensively. They won't be anywhere near the ball when we need to attack and then we end up with Tuchel and Potter eras where we couldn't buy a goal. I'm sick of football that turns forwards into defensive decoys.

The formation is risk vs reward. The attack is working right now so I get the argument that it doesn't need to change, but there is a fundamental spacing problem in the wide areas because someone has to come out of position to cover those spaces in the corners. It's what makes it so hard for us to deal with runners from midfield into the channels. We just have to do something about the spacing and the players need to be better at identifying spaces to run into and defend. They are constantly a step behind and wait for a runner to attack the vacant space rather than running into it to defend it.
 
SydneyChelsea said:
Nah, this narrative about the front three's defending is tired. Results, rather than observations, are driving the narrative. No one is criticising Barcelona or PSG or Bayern or Arsenal's attackers for their defending. It is a cliche that abounds, whenever attackers do their job but the team leaks goals there's always fault ladled on the attackers for not working hard enough.

They are pressing hard. Rogers is dominating aerially and Palmer is regularly robbing DMs of the ball on the counter-press. Pedro appears to have dropped off, but it seems to be by instruction as when he was 'working harder' under Maresca he was basically playing at CM and was nowhere near where we needed him.

Sure, we could have Rogers, Pedro and Palmer drop and work harder defensively. They won't be anywhere near the ball when we need to attack and then we end up with Tuchel and Potter eras where we couldn't buy a goal. I'm sick of football that turns forwards into defensive decoys.

The formation is risk vs reward. The attack is working right now so I get the argument that it doesn't need to change, but there is a fundamental spacing problem in the wide areas because someone has to come out of position to cover those spaces in the corners. It's what makes it so hard for us to deal with runners from midfield into the channels. We just have to do something about the spacing and the players need to be better at identifying spaces to run into and defend. They are constantly a step behind and wait for a runner to attack the vacant space rather than running into it to defend it.
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I don't watch barca but arsenal attacker defend very well same with psg.
In our case, it is not, it is very very bad.
 
Bob stark said:
I don't watch barca but arsenal attacker defend very well same with psg.
In our case, it is not, it is very very bad.
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I think the result drives the narrative. They don't seem to put in remarkably more tackles or presses or other defensive contributions than our forwards or any others, really. They are much, much more coordinated and organised, however, and that comes from the manager too.
 
I dont see why anyone would want their attackers to tire themselves out chasing shadows, they are there to score/create goals, they should be looking at getting into the best position to do that, not chasing back to our own penalty area. Often them doing this just causes issues as they move into spaces the midfield and defence are supposed to control, it just muddys things up.
 
Bob stark said:
I don't watch barca but arsenal attacker defend very well same with psg.
In our case, it is not, it is very very bad.
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You're just making things up now.

Rogers had 3 tackles, 4 clearances, 4 headed clearances, 6 recoveries and 12 ground duels (58% won) against Bournemouth.
They're running more than any other attack.

Its a lazy narrative that isn't close to watch happens on the pitch on a match day.
 
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