There is a lot of optimism coming out of Chelsea right now, but there is no doubt that Xabi Alonso has an incredibly difficult job.
There were a lot of problems at Chelsea last season, and some have not gone anywhere yet.
The Blues suffered a lot of fitness issues and have already lost Emmanuel Emegha and Geovany Quenda to injury. Thankfully, they are not expected to be out for too long, but that will not be Alonso’s only concern.
Chelsea covered the least distance in the Premier League last term, which was put to the 44-year-old in a recent press conference.
Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke and now Pedro Neto! Why do our Premier League rivals always want to sign players not rated by the fan base? What aren’t we seeing? 😵💫
Enzo Maresca is reportedly eyeing a reunion with Neto at Man City
In response, he told Football360 and other outlets: “We need to compete. We need to have good energy, we need to run, we need to work hard, we need to have the sacrifice that is compulsory or mandatory, I don’t know how you say, in each Premier League game to win each game is really tough. So we need to be prepared for that. And we are using this time for those so we will see first game.”
It is something that Alonso is clearly going to tackle. He has to. It is no wonder Chelsea lost so many games last season.
Premier League matches are played at such a high intensity. If Chelsea players are not doing enough running, of course they are going to get beaten.
With that being said, running a bit more is not going to take the Blues from 10th into the top four. There are other things Alonso is going to have to address such as the team’s ill-discipline and defensive frailties.
How Alonso solves the former remains to be seen, but the latter could be fixed quickly.
Chelsea should announce the signing of Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace very soon. The Frenchman is a more reliable option than most of the squad’s current centre-halves and should be an upgrade on them.
Using a back five could also help Chelsea to improve defensively, although everything is pointing towards Alonso employing a back four.
In both of Chelsea’s behind-closed-door friendlies against Bromley and Crawley Town, Alonso used a 4-2-3-1 formation, so that could be his set-up for the new season.
Ultimately, Chelsea’s distance covered, ill-discipline and defence are just three areas Alonso will have to tend to.
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