Xabi Alonso has quietly been diagnosing Chelsea’s underlying flaws, identifying a physical metric where the squad trailed nearly the entire Premier League last season.
Chelsea’s biggest headache last season was an absolute lack of identity. Tactically, the Blues were entirely disjointed, best highlighted by the chaotic 3-3 capitulation against teams like Brentford and Leeds United, where the defence completely fell apart.
Expensive signings like Alejandro Garnacho regularly looked completely lost on the pitch, leading to fans even booing the Argentine at one point.
Liam Rosenior’s disastrous stint at Stamford Bridge culminated in a brutal run of five consecutive Premier League defeats without scoring a single goal, which summed everything up.
How do you feel about this, Chelsea fans?🤔
Xabi Alonso addresses Chelsea’s running data from last season
A report from the Daily Mail states that Xabi Alonso has taken a deep dive into Chelsea‘s analytical reports, which has exposed the physical drop-off from last season.
The data reveals a shocking lack of intensity, showing that the Blues were physically outrun by their opponents in all but one of their Premier League matches, with the 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield proving to be the solitary outlier.
Even more concerning for the new manager is that Chelsea covered the lowest total distance out of all 20 top-flight clubs, highlighting a major work-rate issue that Alonso is now determined to fix.
How Xabi Alonso likes his sides to play
In a Xabi Alonso system, it demands relentless physical output, a style he perfected during Bayer Leverkusen’s historic Bundesliga run. His teams dominate possession, but that control relies entirely on non-stop movement and aggressive, highly coordinated counter-pressing the second they lose the ball.
Wing-backs are expected to sprint tirelessly to stretch opponents, while midfielders constantly shut down counter-attacks through sheer work rate.
Alonso expects his players to outrun and outwork the opposition, maintaining a suffocating, high-intensity press for ninety minutes, a far cry from the passive physical output Chelsea showed last season.
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