🔎 Inside Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea appointment - via The Athletic:

In the days that followed Liam Rosenior’s sacking, honest discussions were held within the hierarchy to determine what lessons could be learned from a season that had unravelled, and what was needed in the dugout and on the pitch to ensure that mistakes were not repeated and the expectations of ownership and supporters could be met.

There were the trio of imminent Premier League free agents: Andoni Iraola, Marco Silva and Oliver Glasner. Of the three, it was Iraola who gained the most traction in Chelsea’s coaching search, on the strength of his remarkable achievements at Bournemouth. He was approached and impressed, though there were concerns about the radical departure his style of football would represent from the work of Enzo Maresca and Rosenior.

But it was Alonso that was the front-runner from the start. He had been on Chelsea’s radar since the summer of 2024.

His leadership qualities, professionalism and vision for building a winning culture shone through in the early discussions. It was the club that suggested giving him the title of manager rather than head coach, in recognition of those attributes.

Style of play was also an important consideration. Alonso is viewed as being of the same school of coaching as Maresca — inspired by Pep Guardiola’s positional play approach — offering a measure of continuity on the pitch.

With talks reaching an advanced stage, Alonso travelled to London last week.

Alonso had questions about the unique sporting structure and decision-making process at Stamford Bridge. He had several meetings with the club’s sporting leadership to clarify their various responsibilities and how they serve the team.

Alonso say it was important for him to be confident that he would have real influence and a voice at Chelsea.

Alonso spoke during his discussions with the club of his desire to build a team of “mentality monsters” at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea are intending to sign at least two starting calibre players in this summer’s transfer market, with proven talent — in terms of mindset as well as skill — set to be prioritised.

#CFC #ChelseaFC #XabiAlonso #Alonso

🗣️ Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso to Elchiringuito Tv/marcosbenito9:

“We have to start working now.

“Chelsea is a nice project. I’m happy, it’s a very good option. We’ll build a good team”.

#CFC #ChelseaFC #XabiAlonso #Alonso

 🗣️🇦🇺 Xabi Alonso ahead of Chelsea’s second pre-season match against @Tottenhm Hotspur in the Sydney Super Cup:

👏 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐲𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝟖𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎-𝐩𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲:

“Yes, so far so good.

“It’s been a great experience to come here to Australia, a country with big sports.

“It has great support and we have seen that from training sessions, from the game, and tomorrow we are expecting a good crowd. It’s getting more and more this energy from the people and the facilities are good. You see here from Sydney, it’s top level and we are really happy.

“That’s the beauty and the special charm of the Premier League, that wherever you go in the world, Australia or New Zealand, or we go next week to Hong Kong and we feel the support, we have great welcome, great reception and we are expecting a great atmosphere tomorrow.”

“The Premier League is so special in the world and that’s why it’s so engaging for all the football fans.”

🤝 𝐎𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐬 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧:

“Moi and Nico joined yesterday in the squad of all the players and Nico is part of the squad and we welcome him and we start with him from today.”

🏥 On whether Romeo Lavia is fit after missing Chelsea’s win over Western Sydney Wanderers due to a hamstring issue:

“He’s okay for tomorrow.”

🔋 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝:

“It’s a good game, it will be an exciting game, we want to play a good game but it’s still pre-season, so there will be circumstances or there are already plans.

“Probably in a competitive moment you don’t have already plans, so there will be minutes for many players, but it’s going to be exciting for sure.”

(Via Bobby Vincent - Football London)

#CFC #ChelseaFC #Alonso #THFC

🗣️ Xabi Alonso on Chelsea’s 4-3 win over Brighton & Hove Albion [H] in the Premier League:

🤝 𝐎𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧:

“Quite a lot at the end.

“All the wins, I enjoyed them a lot. But it was a game of different moments, different feelings and at the end we are happy with the result.

“For sure we value a lot this win against a very good opponent that was tough in the last years. So we are happy with that. But for sure there are things, moments that we have done really well, other moments that this is a process.

“We are in the process to keep learning from us, to keep improving and normally it is easier with a win.”

🏥 𝐎𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐨’𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟:

“Hopefully it was not new and it wasn’t more than last time. So he was cautious to stop, to say that this feeling was not the best but we need to assess during the week. But it wasn’t something new.”

💪 𝐎𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐳 𝐢𝐧:

“I spoke with him yesterday, we talked about the game, about our team and he felt ready so I don’t have to tell him many things to perform and even that for sure a keeper wants to have a clean sheet but I am happy with his first impact.

“He has been in the building for 48 hours so now we will have the whole week to prepare for the next one and day-by-day we will feel his presence because he has this charisma, this aura to influence and to have a very positive connection with the rest of the team.”

🤔 𝐎𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐳𝐨 𝐅𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐳 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐝:

“We want the best for the team and that's why we made the decision against Luton and today and anything that happens before Tuesday evening, we need to be aware of what is going to develop.

“We are not sure, we are preparing for all the scenarios but I am sure that whatever happens from Wednesday we will have a good enough squad to compete in all the Premier League games.”

(Via bobbyvincent - Football London)

#CFC #ChelseaFC #CHEBHA #BHAFC #Alonso

 🗣️ Xabi Alonso on Chelsea’s 6-3 win over Leeds United [H] in the Carabao Cup third round:

🤝 “Many things happened in the game.

“For sure, I take responsibility for a lot of them; no player to blame, it’s the decisions that we took, and for sure, the first half, things were not going the way we wanted.

“When you haven’t had time, and when you don’t have time to work with them, it’s difficult to compete at this level, so it’s my responsibility, and we have to take the decisions at half time, and we have seen a second half with quality, tempo.

“We need to analyse, but happy with that we are going through, happy with the reaction, but as well analytic about what we have done.

“It was difficult for them [fringe players].

“Maybe I made it too difficult because it’s a strong side. But overall, you need to react. You need to take decisions, and the impact was good from the players that came on.”

🤔 𝐎𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞:

“We want to have better balance, to be more solid, to be able to win in a boring game as well.

“Five games, we are now through, and now we have these two games before the international break that are fundamental.”

(Via Jake Stokes - Football London)

#CFC #ChelseaFC #CHELEE #LUFC #Alonso

 🗣️ Xabi Alonso ahead of Chelsea’s match against Hull City [H] in the Premier League:

🏥 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬:

“Not tomorrow [on whether Caicedo, Palestra, Henderson & Emegha are available]. We hope that they can be for Brentford.”

🐯 𝐎𝐧 𝐇𝐮𝐥𝐥:

“They are seven points, no goals conceded. They will be hard to beat. They have their weapons with transitions and set pieces. They have the belief that the coach is doing a great job. So it’s going to be hard and we’ll have to be at our best to beat Hull tomorrow.

“They deserve to be where they are. They have played against Manchester United, Coventry and Aston Villa and they have done it really well. They have shown that they have built a very clear idea of what they want, how they want to compete with players that were already there last year, a few other players that came new, but the mentality is that they want to fight with everything to get the goal.

“Tomorrow we are prepared, we are ready. There is not going to be complacency from us. We have full respect for them and we know that it will be hard to beat them. If we do things well, if we complete and play at our level, I think we will have a good chance.”

(Via Bobby Vincent - Football London)

#CFC #ChelseaFC #CHEHUL #HCFC #Alonso

 🗣️ Xabi Alonso on Chelsea’s 6-5 defeat [1-1 AFT] on penalties to @Liverpool_Always [A] in the Carabao Cup Round of 16:

🤝 “For sure the outcome is not what we wanted.

“It’s not what we expected before the game. You know, once you reach the penalties, there’s going to be a sad side. This is us in the case, but I have to say that the game we have played a very good competitive level, with good performance.

“We showed an improvement, I would say. That’s what we wanted. We played with courage. The game was really close. It could have gone not many chances for both sides and we have tried to overcome difficult moments as well.

“After the injury, we had to deal with and to change a few things. But it’s a small setback in this competition. It’s probably the least important competition for us in the year, so we need to move on. And as soon as we leave Anfield, our focus is on Saturday’s Premier League [game]. This is the main and the most important thing.”

🤔 𝐎𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐞‌𝐯𝐚‌𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞:

“We started with Pedro [Neto], with Danny [Welbeck] and with Morgan [Rogers] up front.

“The game had very intense moments. We knew that it was going to be physical and after we had to deal with Moi [Caicedo], he had little problems. Malo [Gusto], as well, he had cramps - so we were a little bit forced with substitutions.

“The season is going to be long and there will be moments for everyone.

“I’m sure that Este will have his moment. It’s my responsibility and we need to deal with that.”

🧱 𝐎𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬’ 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞:

“He looked really solid, with good composure. Like he had dealt well with Saturday.

“This is what it takes in this job, to overcome difficult situations and he did quite well.”

(Via Bobby Vincent - Football London)

#CFC #ChelseaFC #LIVCHE #CarabaoCup #Alonso