Brentford defeat highlights Xabi Alonso’s early defensive blueprint
Chelsea lost 3-0 to Brentford. The result landed just before the first international break of the season, and it left obvious questions in its wake. The Xabi Alonso Chelsea defensive balance has become the main talking point at Stamford Bridge since full time. Saturday’s showing in the West London derby loss made that point hard to ignore.
Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole didn’t hold back in his pundit reaction to the Brentford defeat. Plenty of supporters felt the same way watching from home. Alonso took this job with a clear brief. He needed to build a settled, competitive Chelsea side that fans can trust. Five games into the Premier League campaign, he’s still searching for a back line that holds up from week to week.
The timing of the break isn’t ideal for a manager under this kind of scrutiny. It does, though, give Alonso’s coaching staff two weeks to review the opening matches properly, away from fixture pressure and matchday noise. Chelsea return to Premier League action with the same defensive questions still waiting for answers.
Conceding 12 in five exposes Chelsea set-piece struggles under Austin MacPhee
Chelsea have conceded 12 goals in their opening five Premier League matches this season. Five of those came from set pieces. That’s a striking number for a club that worked hard over the summer to fix exactly that weakness.
Chelsea brought in Austin MacPhee from Aston Villa as their new set-piece coach over the summer, replacing Bernardo Cueva in that role. MacPhee arrived with a strong reputation in the game. Fans expected quick gains from a specialist appointment like his, especially at the defensive end of the pitch.
Football.London’s review of Chelsea’s season start flagged the same trend. It pointed to set-piece defending as one of the clearest problems in Alonso’s opening months in charge. Conceding at a rate of more than two goals a game isn’t the platform any side with title ambitions can build from.
Set pieces should be among the easiest goals to stop. They don’t rely on pace or a moment of individual brilliance from the opposition. When a team concedes this often from corners and free kicks, it usually points to organisation rather than bad luck. Fixing that is squarely MacPhee’s job.
Estevao Willian sub role and injury list detailed by writers
Football.London writers Bobby Vincent and Jake Stokes reviewed Chelsea’s start to the season. They reached the same conclusion on Estevao Willian’s role under Alonso. The Brazilian winger has made four substitute appearances in the league, each arriving with fewer than ten minutes of normal time left on the clock. There’s more detail in our piece on Estevao’s game time under Alonso, which breaks down his early season minutes.
Alonso’s selection problems go beyond one winger’s role, too. Joao Pedro, Cole Palmer, Marco Palestra and Reece James have all been dealing with injuries in recent weeks. It’s serious enough that Pedro and Palmer withdrew from international duty entirely rather than risk further damage.
That leaves Alonso short of attacking options just as he tries to sort out problems at the other end of the pitch. It goes some way to explaining why Estevao’s introduction has been handled so carefully this season.
Xabi Alonso search for Cobham balance before Premier League return
With the domestic calendar paused, Alonso has kept an eleven-man squad working at Cobham rather than sending everyone away. Our report on the Cobham training group during the break shows a head coach unwilling to waste the time off. That’s despite so many first-team players being on international duty.
Getting the Xabi Alonso Chelsea defensive balance right will define how this Premier League season unfolds for Chelsea. Conceding 12 goals in five matches, with half of them from set pieces, isn’t simply bad luck. It’s a pattern. Alonso needs to fix it before the fixtures resume, and he knows that as well as anyone at the club.
Chelsea international break tracker: Call-ups, fixtures and withdrawals
Chelsea international break tracker: Call-ups, fixtures and withdrawals
Cole Palmer questioned after England withdrawal over Chelsea injury
Cole Palmer questioned after England withdrawal over Chelsea injury