Although it would be pushing it to say that Chelsea have switched from development centre to retirement home, even after the signings of Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck, there has been a clear shift in strategy this summer. Some grownups are in the room at last and, for Xabi Alonso, the hope is that bringing in more experience will help a squad still packed with youngsters show more composure when adversity strikes. Discipline was a problem for Chelsea last season: they had 11 red cards in all competitions and a lot of the wounds were self-inflicted.
Chelsea were impetuous, on the receiving end of too many bookings for dissent and prone to collapsing at the first sign of trouble. No wonder Alonso, who was the epitome of calm during his playing career, has focused on maintaining “emotional control” before opening his tenure as manager with Monday’s trip to Fulham. It will be a test of Chelsea’s mentality.
Craven Cottage has been the setting for some spectacular implosions during the BlueCo era, the path to two 2-1 victories for Fulham over their neighbours smoothed by João Félix earning a red card on his Chelsea debut in 2023 and by Marc Cucurella getting himself sent off after 22 minutes last season. Chelsea need to change, and hiring Alonso was a tacit admission that their approach required fine-tuning. Internally there was a recognition that the club had undervalued the importance of aura when it came to hiring coaches.
They blundered with Graham Potter and Liam Rosenior, neither of whom were capable of standing the heat. Alonso is a different breed. The 44-year-old burnished his reputation by leading Bayer Leverkusen to the Bundesliga title in 2024 and he wowed Chelsea during his discussions over the role, so much so that they broke with the past by naming him manager rather than head coach.
Now the players can look to the dugout and see an authority figure. Alonso has not seized absolute power – he is still part of a wider structure, collaborating with an extensive recruitment team – but there is no doubt that his arrival has lent credibility to a project that was in danger of falling apart when the Rosenior experiment ended. Of course, it remains to be seen if success in Germany means Alonso can dominate in England.
Leverkusen was special but Real Madrid left him with a scar. Then again, the Bernabéu is not exactly where managers go to develop. It makes Álvaro Arbeloa, who stepped in at Madrid after Alonso’s sacking last season, a similar unknown after replacing Marco Silva at Fulham.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
