Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea have opted for a heavily attack-centric style of play since the beginning of the season, but their defensive lapses left them exposed against Hull City for a 2-2 draw on Saturday.
The Blues have got out of jail a few times this season through their attacking dynamism, but with their defence and midfield consistently leaking easy attacking opportunities for the opposition, a result like this was always on the horizon.
A host of full-backs have covered in midfield for Chelsea all season, a problem area for Alonso which wasn’t addressed early enough in the summer window before Enzo Fernandez departed west London to join Manchester City.
Entertaining, but frustrating
“Maybe entertaining, but I hope one day you’ll say it was a boring game and we win and we don’t give these entertaining moments,” Alonso said.
“It kind of repeats some patterns that we are making. It will take time to fix them.
“When we get the lead, you still need to be competing and not give the chance so easily for them to come back, especially for the first goal. We can do much better. It was too soft.
“That momentum that we had [was lost], it changed the mood. It’s something we need to keep talking about and address.
“We will get better, but it’s having an impact on our performances.”
Attack way better than defense
“Overall I think that we are attacking better than defending,” Alonso added.
“It’s a big topic and a big theme for us. It’s just four [league] games, but the dynamic in terms of conceding, I don’t like it.
“We can do better for sure. When we have the lead, a very important part of the game is to hold together, to keep the distances. I’m sure that we can do better.”
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