What Chelsea Must Take From Xabi Alonso's Rocky Road to Leverkusen Glory

Xabi Alonso's tenure at Stamford Bridge is only six matches in, yet his Chelsea side has already generated considerable discussion.

The Blues are, without question, thrilling to watch in attack. João Pedro, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer have formed one of the continent's most dangerous forward lines, but things have been far from solid at the defensive end.

Across Alonso's six matches, Chelsea have shipped 12 goals. In the Premier League, only Crystal Palace (11), Coventry City and Ipswich Town (both 10) have let in more than Alonso's Blues, who have turned virtually every fixture this season into an end-to-end spectacle reminiscent of a basketball match.

That level of defensive vulnerability is clearly unsustainable, and questions are already mounting about the long-term direction of this undeniably exciting team.

Interestingly, this is not the first time Alonso's defensive credentials have come under scrutiny — his celebrated spell at Bayer Leverkusen got off to a remarkably similar start.

Déjà Vu for Alonso After Tricky Bayer Leverkusen Start

Alonso took charge of Leverkusen on Oct. 5, 2022. The club were sitting second from bottom in the Bundesliga and suffering through their worst opening to a season in more than four decades.

He immediately lifted morale with a commanding 4–0 victory over a struggling Schalke side, but the issues quickly emerged. A 3–0 defeat to Porto and a 5–1 thrashing by Eintracht Frankfurt reminded observers of the scale of the challenge, and the German press showed little mercy despite Alonso's reign being in its earliest stages. He was accused of drifting into a "crisis."

Back-to-back 2–2 draws against Wolfsburg and Atlético Madrid, followed by a 2–0 defeat to RB Leipzig, made for grim reading. Six games, 14 goals conceded.

"We're conceding too many goals," said sporting director Simon Rolfes — a view Alonso could hardly dispute. "Too many," was the manager's candid response.

How Alonso's Chelsea Start Compares to Leverkusen

Among the key adjustments Alonso made upon arriving at Leverkusen was scrapping a back-four setup in favour of a 3-4-2-1 — a system traditionally associated with shoring up defensively troubled sides.

Despite the early difficulties, Alonso held firm. He stuck with his approach, reassuring supporters that nothing was fundamentally broken and that results would follow once his players became more comfortable with his methods.

As it turned out, he was absolutely right.

"We need to better control when and how we win the ball back," Alonso emphasised, urging his squad to take more calculated risks and develop a sharper understanding of their positioning relative to their teammates — qualities he believed would improve naturally over time.

Alonso's seventh match at the helm of Leverkusen proved to be the watershed moment. The side demolished league leaders Union Berlin 5–0, sparking a five-game winning run that won back the supporters and laid the groundwork for a squad that would clinch the Bundesliga title just 18 months later.

Leverkusen found the kind of attacking consistency now on display at Chelsea as they claimed the 2023–24 Bundesliga crown. Florian Wirtz led the charge with 18 goals and 20 assists, while striker Victor Boniface — who has been linked with a move to the Blues — contributed 21 goals and 10 assists. Crucially, however, it was conceding just 24 goals across 34 matches that made their title triumph feel almost inevitable.

Alonso Sends Similar Warning to Chelsea

Following a disappointing 2–2 draw with Hull City in Alonso's sixth match in charge at Chelsea, he called on his players to eliminate a "soft" tendency that had crept into their displays.

While tactical adjustments are required, Alonso remained firm in his belief that time and patience are the most effective tools for bringing about those improvements.

"It's early days for us," he told club media. "It's one month together and in one month, we know the idea, the concepts, the mentality, but it's too early to know it's already built.

"It will take longer, but we need to learn from everything and from this [against Hull] as well.