Ex- Chelsea player and manager Glenn Hoddle expects his former club to finish in the “top six” as a bare minimum with Xabi Alonso in charge.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Hoddle revealed that he is a big admirer of the Spaniard’s managerial ability, and he thinks the additions of Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck are “shrewd”:
“That’s where they’ll be setting their sights, of course, and I think there’ll be a few clubs setting their sights on the top four. But I think Alonso, he done such a great job for Leverkusen – he wasn’t the right man to go to Real Madrid. They were never going to go in and play like he wanted them to play.”
“He had them youngsters [at Leverkusen]. If he said, you know, jump into that river, they would do it for him, and they played a system that was powerful. It was pressing. It was all of them with a bit of experience in there as well. That was never going to happen at Real Madrid, and he was just the wrong person to go in there. That’s a different animal. Real Madrid.”
“But I think now, looking at Chelsea, he’s gone for experience as well, with Henderson and obviously Welbeck coming in. That, I think, is two shrewd moves. People might raise their eyebrows and go ‘oh ‘, but that’s what the manager wants. He wants a little bit of experience, and it’s what Chelsea need as well. So yeah, I would expect them going for the top six and getting back into Europe.”
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Adding experience to the Chelsea squad was vital
Alonso clearly identified the lack of personalities and leadership among the first-team squad when he first arrived at Stamford Bridge, and the additions of Henderson and Welbeck were not necessarily designed to improve the starting eleven.
However, both can provide support to the group in general, imparting their experience to younger teammates, as well as setting a standard on the training ground that others need to match.
Alonso is still ironing out problems
Based on the first few friendlies, it’s clear that the 44-year-old is still trying to get his ideas over to the players. The structure is clearly not in place yet, and some of the defensive vulnerabilities we have seen are a consequence of this bedding-in process.
Of course, no Premier League manager has time to settle in, and Alonso will have to get results early on to keep fans on side. His first competitive match is against Fulham in just a couple of weeks.