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Xabi Alonso - New Chelsea Manager

People on here are deluded if they thought that the position that these owners put us into was gong to be reversed in one transfer window. We’ve got a very good coach who has cleared up many of the players we didn’t want in the first team, got some exciting attacking options in Rogers, and has got Palmer back to his best from the gutter that Maresca and Rosenior put him in. We’ve got the most exciting attacking trio of the PL, and the way that Alonso got them playing is exciting. Yes, we’ve still got many deficiencies, not going to amend that in one transfer window. We need bench quality depth and a functioning midfield, but who was available this window? So, let’s just accept that we’re a midtable team at the moment and enjoy our attacking prowess and the fact that we can, with some adjustments, become a very good team.

 
Much has been made of the role Gabriel Henize has on Arsenals defence.

Should find your own person to help with it Xabi. How about JT?

 
Should find your own person to help with it Xabi. How about JT?
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Would be great but probably not going to happen. JT personally addressed that point on his YouTube channel after many fans asked him that.

Basically said he doesn't fancy that role and that he's very happy with his work at the academy.

 
Would be great but probably not going to happen. JT personally addressed that point on his YouTube channel after many fans asked him that.

Basically said he doesn't fancy that role and that he's very happy with his work at the academy.
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Probably realised ages ago that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, no matter how adept you are at needlework ...

 
Xabi has a few of his players to work with back at cobham over this international break.

So far only these players are called up:

Martinez

Penders

Lacroix

Hato

Lavia

Barco

Neto

Palmer

Rogers

Estevao

James, Joao Pedro, Caicedo and Palestra left to continue rehab.

 
There is no question that this weekend was hugely disappointing. In particular because it is difficult to discern what our plan is, especially in transition.

It also doesn't help that bald fraud c**t Maresca is doing well at City and Argie fraud c**t Fernandez has settled in.

Worst of all despicable human being fraud c**t Jackson has a MOTD love-in section devoted to him.

I think I'll go on X for a bit of toxicity to cheer myself up.

 
When the break is over, and we hopefully have our injured players back, I hope he drops the back 3 and goes with:

Martinez

James

Acheampong

Lacroix

Palestra

Caicedo

Henderson

Palmer

Estevao

Rogers

Joao Pedro.

Against Bournemouth.

Alonso play Estevao!

 
No matter what 2 we use in the middle, whether it's a 2 with wingbacks around them, ot a 2 in a 4-2-3-1, there are still massive gaps between those 2 and the defence, which are being exploited. The only solution I can see to this right now, is to have 3 in the middle, with a Makelele-like screener in front of the back four who just sits there and does nothing else. That would mean sacrificing some of the attack, but right now there is no balance between attack and defence.

It would have to be something like:

team


With a sitting midfielders the fullbacks can in theory get forward a bit more. The other 2 midfielders can condense in the middle when out of possession.

 
Dead man walking. Zero chance he will be here after Christmas. The players are looking very average under him. Throwing that 16 year old kid on into that game was a tad strange.

Colwill looked like he was the solution when he returned at the end of last season but he has been woeful this season.

Few strange decisions by Alonso so far. Chucking that kid in tonight, playing 2 fullbacks in midfield, leaving Rogers on for full 90mins. No Estevao. Rotating all the time. Subbing defenders out for defenders regularly.
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Wrong man for the job.
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Nothing surprises me in football, but I cannot see Alonso being sacked - certainly not this season. Sure, if we put in a Spurs type run and were in the bottom three come Christmas, then it could happen, but he will be given time. He HAS to.

Dare I ask WHO was the right man for the job?

 
Nothing surprises me in football, but I cannot see Alonso being sacked - certainly not this season. Sure, if we put in a Spurs type run and were in the bottom three come Christmas, then it could happen, but he will be given time. He HAS to.

Dare I ask WHO was the right man for the job?
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If you respond to every idiotic knee-jerk reaction around here you'll go spare.

 
You can cut data any way you like, and while this is a small sample, concerning stats from JTs YouTube channel. Caicedo won’t fix this - the system is at fault, compounded with individual errors. I find it hard to believe, and with the utmost respect, teams like Hull, Coventry, Fulham, Everton etc have better players than us and it’s simply down to that. A manager needs to instill defensive solidity as a base and grow from there.

IMG_0377.png

 
Really lost a lot of enthusiasm for the season.

I think zero stability and the constant chopping/changing the manager & squad plays a big factor, but I genuinely felt we should be a lot better than what we are currently seeing. I knew our midfield would be a huge issue but didn’t think we’d be so, so poor off the ball. Mentality is still a big issue even with all the experience heads now in the team.

Just hoping things sort out eventually as I don’t know where we go from here. Unlike some, bar the midfield I’m happy with our signings and think we are more than good enough to secure 70-80 points.

 
Really lost a lot of enthusiasm for the season.

I think zero stability and the constant chopping/changing the manager & squad plays a big factor, but I genuinely felt we should be a lot better than what we are currently seeing. I knew our midfield would be a huge issue but didn’t think we’d be so, so poor off the ball. Mentality is still a big issue even with all the experience heads now in the team.

Just hoping things sort out eventually as I don’t know where we go from here. Unlike some, bar the midfield I’m happy with our signings and think we are more than good enough to secure 70-80 points.
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Outside of the Brentford result (We drew last year and lost this year) we’re actually a lot better of points wise from the fixtures so far.

We’re a LOT more exciting to watch than we were which was always the first port of call.

The midfield doesn’t worry me half as much as it should, Barco is equally as good as Enzo & Caicedo is still to return.

The defence is a major worry though, Colwill has regressed massively, Josh still doesn’t seem to be trusted, Lacroix is OK & Fofana is the lowest IQ player perhaps in the entire football pyramid. Martinez is also no upgrade on Sanchez.

We’ll be fine. Brentford are a good stable side we shouldn’t overreact. The Brighton result looks to be a bigger positive, perhaps the Hull one is the big outlier.

The leagues ‘Big’ teams are ridiculously weak this season, once Xabi settles on his preferred lineup with full availability we’ll be fine.

 
Alonso now has a 3 week break to do his homework with his coaching team. Hopefully we pick up no injuries during international break and he will have pretty much a fully fit squad to select from when we return.

The old cliche, "no easy fixtures in the PL these days" is looking true this season. Looking at our fixtures to the end of October we have:

Bournemouth H

Everton A

Spurs H

Man Utd H

With the Liverpool league cup game in between. We could win them all - we could equally lose them all the way our defence is (not) performing. If we lose to Spurs, then I really will start to worry.

 
You can cut data any way you like, and while this is a small sample, concerning stats from JTs YouTube channel. Caicedo won’t fix this - the system is at fault, compounded with individual errors. I find it hard to believe, and with the utmost respect, teams like Hull, Coventry, Fulham, Everton etc have better players than us and it’s simply down to that. A manager needs to instill defensive solidity as a base and grow from there.

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Yeah it is an absolute disgrace and Alonso needs to sort it out quick.

Really lost a lot of enthusiasm for the season.

I think zero stability and the constant chopping/changing the manager & squad plays a big factor, but I genuinely felt we should be a lot better than what we are currently seeing. I knew our midfield would be a huge issue but didn’t think we’d be so, so poor off the ball. Mentality is still a big issue even with all the experience heads now in the team.

Just hoping things sort out eventually as I don’t know where we go from here. Unlike some, bar the midfield I’m happy with our signings and think we are more than good enough to secure 70-80 points.
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Agreed.

As to where we go from here either Alonso fixes our defence or we continue to drop points and down the table. You don't do anything good with a terrible defence.

 
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