Xabi Alonso
Xabi Alonso has a lot of work to do at Chelsea(Image: Harvey Murphy/News Images/NurPhoto)
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Friday evening's defeat to Brentford has left a sour taste in Chelsea mouths in the first international break of the 2026/27 season.
With three weeks to dwell on the 3-0 loss, the feeling will be in systems up until when the Blues take to the pitch again. That isn't until October 10 when Bournemouth are the visitors to Stamford Bridge, so there is plenty of time to reflect on the start to the season.
There have been some positives, despite the feeling right now, to Chelsea's start under Xabi Alonso. There have also been plenty of negatives, however, with Alonso having a lot of work to do before he gets his Blues team to the level he wants.
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With that said, Bobby Vincent and Jake Stokes review the campaign thus far and talk about the areas of improvement required for the remainder of the season. Our two writers have reached an agreement when it comes to Estevao Willian.
Bobby Vincent
The obvious one: sort the defence out. Easier said than done, of course, but that should be, undoubtedly, Alonso and his staff's main priority over the next few weeks.
After five Premier League fixtures, no side in the division has conceded as many as the Blues (12). Five of those have come from set plays. Austin MacPhee was brought in from Aston Villa over the summer to become Chelsea's new set-piece coach, taking over from Bernardo Cueva.
While MacPhee is often a loud and animated figure on the touchline, sometimes more than Alonso, we are yet to see the full impact of his methods.
Austin MacPhee
Chelsea set-piece coach Austin MacPhee(Image: Marc Atkins)
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Alonso needs to somehow get the best out of his back line, but the defensive trio are not isolated in this. Chelsea need to discover a way for the midfield to become more of a shield to the struggling defence, because at the moment it is far too easy for the opposition to carve their way through the middle of the Blues by doing not a lot.
Once Moises Caicedo returns, he will help with that. While being Chelsea's most important midfielder, he is also one of the only options in the middle of the park with a real sense of danger.
The next two-and-a-half weeks will be crucial to allow key personnel, like Caicedo, to recover from their injury problems. Joao Pedro has a knee injury which forced the Brazilian to withdraw from international duty, Reece James has a muscular problem, as does Cole Palmer, the latter also pulled out of representing their country.
Marco Palestra is yet to feature for the Blues in a competitive game due to a problem with his quad and is likely to be back after the international break. Emmanuel Emegha is thought to be nearing a return as well.
Marco Palestra
Marco Palestra is yet to feature for Chelsea this season due to injury(Image: Pedro Porru/MB Media)
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Alonso will be hoping that having all/the majority of those players back available will drastically improve Chelsea's fortunes after three games without a win in the Premier League.
One positive has been the form of Palmer and Morgan Rogers at the start of the season but that has consequently restricted the minutes for the likes of Estevao, Geovany Quenda and Jamie Gittens.
Alonso sees Estevao as more of an attacker rather than a wing-back, a role we have seen Pedro Neto adapt to, and that has come at a cost for the Brazilian teenager.
Estevao is yet to make a start in the league for Chelsea this season but has made four appearances off the bench. However, the 19-year-old's four games have seen him introduced into the action with less than 10 minutes of normal time remaining in every single one of them.
It comes as no surprise that Brazilian media have expressed Estevao's frustrations, from a personal point of view, with the start to the season, even though Alonso played such speculation down.
Estevao Willian
Estevao Willian is yet to start in the Premier League this season(Image: Catherine Ivill - AMA)
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Estevao is immensely talented, but unfortunately for him, so are Palmer and Rogers. Alonso has a tough job on his hands in keeping everyone happy, without even going into depth over Gittens and Quenda, who have barely kicked a ball so far this term.
Jake Stokes
After the international break, Chelsea will play six games in just 29 days, leaving little room for error – let alone recovery – ahead of the festive period, so it's paramount that Alonso uses the next two to three weeks to reflect on what has been a crazy start to the new season.First and foremost, I'd like to see the Blues manager solve the imbalance in midfield. Through no fault of his own, with Caicedo nursing an injury and Enzo Fernandez no longer with the club, Alonso has had to mix and match his double pivot, leaving his side vulnerable in the middle of the park.Alonso has had his hands tied, but a partnership of James and Valentin Barco could do the job until everyone is fit and available. The Chelsea captain has enjoyed a lot of his best performances in midfield as an anchor, sweeping up play and pulling the strings from deep, rather than as a box-to-box outlet.
Valentin Barco
Valentin Barco looked at home in Chelsea's midfield for large parts of the defeat to Brentford(Image: Gaspafotos/MB Media)
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Alongside the legs of the Argentina international, who can cover ground at will, we may see the best of James again. Finding a solution in midfield will make it much easier to plug the leaky backline.Once Alonso settles on a double pivot in the absence of Caicedo, they'll be able to develop an understanding with the back-three and wing-backs, then recognise – and learn – patterns of play, in and out of possession.Next on the agenda should be Estevao and Quenda. Neither has played nearly enough for Chelsea in the opening weeks of the season, so Alonso should look at ways to give them more minutes.If Palmer and Rogers continue to tear opposition apart, they'll just have to bide their time and remain patient. With so many fixtures on the horizon, Estevao and Quenda will have key roles to play this season, though.
Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers
Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers are thriving together at Chelsea(Image: Ryan Pierse)
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Last, but by no means least, mentality. Alonso has spoken a lot about mentality since he arrived in the summer, so I’d like to see a shift in that department after the international break.A couple of times this season, it's almost as if Chelsea have coasted through spells of a game until a particular moment – whether it be a goal, a piece of skill, or a tackle – lights a fire beneath them.Sometimes it's worked – like when Palmer came off the bench in the Carabao Cup third round to spark a comeback – but other times it’s backfired – like when the Blues took their foot off the pedal against Hull City and surrendered a lead in the space of five minutes.