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LONDON — At the conclusion of the most humbling night of Xabi Alonso's short Chelsea reign, the Basque manager called for patience from those around him.
"It's a process," he cautioned reporters after watching his side get comprehensively taken apart by Brentford on Friday night. "It takes time for them to feel it and at the moment we are not feeling it fully to compete for the whole game."
Given the number of concerns that Alonso openly listed in the stuffy press room at the Gtech Community Stadium, it's hardly surprising that the new head coach anticipates it will take considerable time to address these problems.
Consistency
"We have dropped our consistency," Alonso lamented, pointing to Chelsea's inability to maintain a standard of performance within a single match, let alone across successive weekends.
Alonso has yet to see 90 convincing minutes from his squad, with every game marked by lengthy spells in which the opposition holds the upper hand. Against Brentford, Chelsea never managed a period of dominance of their own.
The opening hour was largely balanced, with both sides frustrating each other by attempting to surge forward after winning possession only to give it back and force the cycle to begin again. However, once Brentford landed the first blow, Chelsea crumbled completely. There were numerous reasons for this collapse, but Alonso pointed to the intangibles first.
Competitive Mentality
Alonso notably cited a lack of the "competitive mentality needed in the second half" from his players. Yet, this should have been the lineup with the greatest mental resilience available to him.
For the first time since the final days of John Terry, Chelsea named a player in their mid-30s in the starting XI of a Premier League match. Danny Welbeck was joined by Jordan Henderson in Chelsea's oldest matchday squad since May 2023. Yet that experience failed to produce the attitude Alonso deemed acceptable.
Set Pieces
Alonso admitted that Chelsea have a problem defending set pieces but stressed that it was far from their only weakness, which led to this broader list of concerns. Center back Levi Colwill was more forthcoming in acknowledging the persistent failings of Chelsea's dead-ball defending:
To be fair to Alonso, this is not a problem of his creation: Since the beginning of last season, Chelsea have conceded 22 set-piece goals, more than any other side in the Premier League.
Duels
Alonso specifically highlighted "duels" as an area requiring improvement. Interestingly, Chelsea actually led these statistics at the Gtech, edging Brentford in ground duels (winning 59% of such contests) and aerial battles (53%), according to FotMob. Yet Alonso's instinct—whether justified or not—reflects the fragile nature of a squad still being shaped and tested.
Henderson was partnered in central midfield by Valentín Barco, who won most of his individual duels, darting around and pressing the red and white shirts without truly disrupting their rhythm. The slight midfielder was notably beaten in the air by Jannik Schuster, who headed the ball across for Jaidon Anthony's opening goal from a corner.
Buildup
This was the most troubling aspect of Chelsea's performance on Friday. For all the attention on their ongoing defensive struggles, the Blues offered virtually no attacking threat either. "It's not only defensively," Alonso lamented, "with the ball there are parts where we need to do better."
Chelsea's buildup play was painfully slow and labored. The back three passed the ball as though it were something to be avoided, while the central pairing of Barco and Henderson appeared only capable of exchanging it between themselves. The two midfielders completed 116 passes combined on Friday, yet not a single one entered Brentford's box—barely any came close to the opposition penalty area.
This sterile lack of penetration became almost farcical once Chelsea fell behind in the 61st minute. The Blues enjoyed 80% possession across that final half-hour without forcing Caoimhin Kelleher into a single save.
Control
This was the first occasion under Alonso that Chelsea had failed to take an early lead in the Premier League, and they struggled badly without the ability to sit deep and hit on the counter. With the game still in the balance, the Blues were required to play a more patient, controlled style of football, which they were ill-equipped to deliver.
"The other part is when you need to hold, when you need to be tight, [the opponent] is trying to attack you and you need to know how to defend and stick together," Alonso said with quiet frustration.
Transitions
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One of the consequences of having no control is a glaring vulnerability in transition. Pep Guardiola, one of the most influential managers in Alonso's career, used to instruct his team to string together 15 passes—a sequence he believed gave players enough time to organize themselves into a shape that would allow them to defend any transition should possession be lost.
This concept is known as "rest defense"—the discipline of preparing to defend while building toward an attack—and is one that Alonso has yet to successfully instill in his current squad. The most glaring illustration of Chelsea's complete failure in this regard came during Brentford's second goal.
There were seven minutes remaining and the visitors were only down 1–0 when Henderson dropped into the defensive line in an attempt to force a breakthrough. However, his straight pass toward Morgan Rogers was intercepted by Kristoffer Ajer, whose teammate Mamadou Sangaré was on hand to recover from his heavy touch.
At the moment of this turnover, six of Chelsea's 10 outfield players were caught ahead of the ball. The midfield was completely exposed, with Henderson drifting alongside the center backs and Barco positioned even closer to goal than Cole Palmer. Within three passes and 10 seconds, Brentford carved through Chelsea's vulnerable center to double their advantage and end the contest.
Most damning of all, this was something Alonso claimed to have specifically addressed with his team in preparation for the trip to Hounslow.
Understanding the Game
This was the heart of Alonso's concern: Chelsea simply lack the tactical intelligence to handle a challenge as demanding as this red-hot Brentford side on their own ground.
"To understand the game," was what Alonso called for, "to know what it takes to be competing until the end." As the former Real Madrid manager emphasized, achieving that—and resolving every other issue raised—will require time. Whether he will be afforded that time is a question only Chelsea's ownership can answer.