I genuinely think he's been a really good player for us in the 5 so far.

 

Looked shaky in the 4 but does much better in the new set up.

 

i was worried about us signing him at first but he's been a good addition in my book. He's only going to get better with time to adjust to the league you would hope!

Not good enough. Liability 1v1. Doesnt inspire on the ball either to be honest. I can think of countless times he as been in good positions and done nothing with it.

Not having he is any better than Baba.

12 minutes ago, jamie#8 said:

Not good enough. Liability 1v1. Doesnt inspire on the ball either to be honest. I can think of countless times he as been in good positions and done nothing with it.

Not having he is any better than Baba.

Alonso did get torn to pieces by Tadic but we didn't concede any goals so I don't really mind. 

Baba is our past, I don't know why people keep on bringing him up, he was garbage. 

14 minutes ago, jamie#8 said:

Not good enough. Liability 1v1. Doesnt inspire on the ball either to be honest. I can think of countless times he as been in good positions and done nothing with it.

Not having he is any better than Baba.

what are you basing this on, because he has looked much better defensively than Baba so far for us.

6 minutes ago, dkw said:

what are you basing this on, because he has looked much better defensively than Baba so far for us.

Basing it off every single game I have watched this season. And in particular seeing what Dusan Tadic done to him yesterday.

Was a little bit shaky in opening stages yesterday but certainly looks solid and has done over the last few games. Needs to work on his 1v1 defending as he was caught short a couple of times yesterday and vs Valencia last week but he's adjusting well and certainly looks our best LB since Cole left.

Is doing better than I thought he would...not convinced by him defensively, but this system suits him (like so many of our players) and he is providing great width, which also gives hazard more space and licence to move inside 

8 minutes ago, Blueblur said:

Alonso did get torn to pieces by Tadic but we didn't concede any goals so I don't really mind. 

Baba is our past, I don't know why people keep on bringing him up, he was garbage. 

He is on Loan so he is not the past.

We didnt concede any but that doesnt mean we can paper over cracks. He was shaky the whole way through, on and off the ball.

3 minutes ago, jamie#8 said:

Basing it off every single game I have watched this season. And in particular seeing what Dusan Tadic done to him yesterday.

So you honestly think Baba was better defensively? 

Hard to say how Baba would compare, as he hasn't played in this new system yet. He's faster and a bit more attacking, so could do well.

He's not the best one on one defender but decent when the left side are all set in position, he was only really exposed during 1 or 2 take ons from Tadic. Most of the time we have 3 defenders in his spot so it's not a huge problem and even if he is isolated usually he buys enough time for others to join in.

Going forward he's very useful, a good passer and can fit in with Hazard and Co when trying to break teams down.

8 minutes ago, dkw said:

So you honestly think Baba was better defensively? 

I think he had a lot more athleticism to get him out of trouble. Not saying Baba was great, but i think he would thrive in a Wingback role, with his running abilities.

I saw someone on twitter sum it up perfectly by saying that on his own Alonso is average, but in this system he is exactly what chelsea need. A left footed player to sit behind Hazard who can offer something at both ends of the pitch.

Started off a bit shaky against a good Tadić, but later on found the tempo and he wasn't troubled. I like him he makes decent crosses and his height helps him recovering the ball when the opposition plays the long ball down the wing

2 hours ago, jamie#8 said:

I think he had a lot more athleticism to get him out of trouble. Not saying Baba was great, but i think he would thrive in a Wingback role, with his running abilities.

Thats not what I asked.

I think that first 5 minutes yesterday will probably go down as the worst 5 minutes of any player in the Prem since records began.

 

He doesn't do an awful lot going forward, though he looks a decent crosser.

 

If he's ever exposed at the back, we're in trouble. I guess the beauty of this system is he will seldom be exposed.

 

If we were playing a flat back 4, he would probably be the worst LB in the league, given what I've seen in the last 2 games.

 

Luckily Hazard predominantly operates from the left, whereas Pedro or Willian operate largely from the right. With Hazard playing ahead of you you're never going to have to do too much going forward. Moses on the other side looks infinitely better, from a defensive and attacking viewpoint.

 

Sunderland are bottom of the table. I believe Van Aanholt scored 5 for them last season and already has 1 this season. He'd give us more going forward and he'd be better defensively. I dare say if we worked our way up the league we'd find we could say the same about every team's LB.

 

Conte appears to like his foot soldiers who follow orders and whom he feels he can improve. In that sense Alonso may end up holding his own, but I doubt very much he'll ever be considered a top player.

 

He probably can't believe he's playing for Chelsea.

The Sunderland fans don't seem to rate Van Aanholt very highly.

well, obviously we've let go a host of capable left backs besides PVA... one of whom was found playing against us yesterday.  Alonso does seem to be strangely poor at, yknow... defending. he brings balance to the team, and is a steadier head to Baba, but as a sunk cost I wonder whether Baba could be brought back at some point.  

with luck Alonso is just adjusting to being back in the EPL again.

Imagine Felipe Luis in this position in this system.

the ghost of bertrand and luis keep haunting us

he's average, mid table standard player, definitely not good enough if we want to contend in europe, if he doesn't improve it's only a matter of time before he'll cost us a goal in the future since he can't defend one on one at all

i honestly think kenedy or baba would do better in the position, baba's currently doing great at schalke and for god's sake he's still 22 he will get better defensively and we all know kenedy's one exciting talent, shame it's being wasted sitting on the bench at watford

I do concur with a few of you Alonso so far does a job he helps balance the system we may see his lack of quality defensively as a problem Conte may see it as a challenge to make him into a good wing back I do get edgy when fast wingers come up against him differently to when I am totally calm when it's on Moses side as hes got the pace and power to match any winger in the world. I suspect Conte like Luiz he sees him as a project and based in his past record you have to trust in Conte. He made average Italy look world class i trust he knows what he's doing with Alonso and January is upon us am sure if needed he can bring Baba back for competition

17 hours ago, Davey Baby said:

I think that first 5 minutes yesterday will probably go down as the worst 5 minutes of any player in the Prem since records began.

 

He doesn't do an awful lot going forward, though he looks a decent crosser.

 

If he's ever exposed at the back, we're in trouble. I guess the beauty of this system is he will seldom be exposed.

 

If we were playing a flat back 4, he would probably be the worst LB in the league, given what I've seen in the last 2 games.

 

Luckily Hazard predominantly operates from the left, whereas Pedro or Willian operate largely from the right. With Hazard playing ahead of you you're never going to have to do too much going forward. Moses on the other side looks infinitely better, from a defensive and attacking viewpoint.

 

Sunderland are bottom of the table. I believe Van Aanholt scored 5 for them last season and already has 1 this season. He'd give us more going forward and he'd be better defensively. I dare say if we worked our way up the league we'd find we could say the same about every team's LB.

 

Conte appears to like his foot soldiers who follow orders and whom he feels he can improve. In that sense Alonso may end up holding his own, but I doubt very much he'll ever be considered a top player.

 

He probably can't believe he's playing for Chelsea.

Unsure if you're trolling here.

He's actually done a lot better then i expected and he is a good fit for the system. Good header of the ball aswell which has been useful quite a few times already.

I think its an area we could get another option to give him competion for the spot in the future though. He isn't on Moses-level.

So the summary of most of these points out is it's safe to say Jodi Alba isn't losing sleep over Alonso.

Sound fair?

Edited November 1, 20169 yr by MissouriBlue

When we have enjoyed the luxury of Ash for so many years, it's too easy to dismiss subsequent left sided signings.