How Xabi Alonso is realising that JP Morgan can’t always bail you out | OneFootball

Chelsea concede a lot of goals. In fact, they’ve conceded the most in the Premier League (12).

The early optimism from landing Xabi Alonso and a new-look attack clicking has quickly been replaced with frustration.

JP Morgan can score as many goals as they want; if you’re regularly shipping two or three a game yourself, the Premier League will punish you.

At Bayer Leverkusen, when needed, Alonso’s side dropped into a compact 5-4-1 with disciplined attackers helping to keep a compact shape.

Obviously, it’s going to take time for Alonso’s young side to learn how to do that, but conceding 12 in five games is an alarming problem the former Liverpool midfielder is going to have to fix fast.

As Chelsea fans mull over the sobering 3-0 loss to Brentford over a long international break, I took a look at every goal and chance they conceded to figure out what the hell is going on with their defence:

Passiveness, lackadaisical defending and set-pieces

At a risk of sounding like Alan Hansen, some of the goals Chelsea have conceded have been schoolboy errors.

Here’s Jorrel Hato judging a bounce of a ball in his own box really poorly and letting Mohamed Belloumi have a sight of goal:

Chelsea defend against Hull

In the same match six minutes later, Levi Colwill decides to stand five yards away from Semi Ajayi when there is no-one else at all to mark.

Chelsea’s marking against Hull was poor

There are six players defending Chelsea’s box against four Hull attackers, yet Ajayi is allowed space and time to get to the ball and meet it with a header to hit the crossbar.

Set-pieces are still crucial in the Premier League, and despite hiring the brilliant Austin MacPhee to wrestle with Chelsea’s dead balls, they’ve conceded from set-pieces in three matches already.

Without Moises Caicedo, there is a real lack of bite and physicality out of possession. Not being assertive with headers, strong in the tackle and robust when marking matters just as much as the defensive shape a team sets up in.

It sets the tone for how a team defends – and in Chelsea’s case so far, it’s too lacklustre and lackadaisical.

Gaps in back five

Playing a back-five system has grown more popular as you can make the pitch wider when you attack (which explains Pedro Neto at full-back) and keep an extra defender when you’re close to your own box.

The problem is, with an extra defender in the back line, it also means there is an extra player for an opponent to pull out. That’s exactly what’s happening with Chelsea.

For Arsenal’s equaliser in their 2-1 win, Kai Havertz pulled Wesley Fofana wide, then checked back into the same gap he made for himself by shooting and scoring.

Chelsea prepare to concede to Arsenal

Chelsea allow Kai Havertz to score

Then, for Arsenal’s winner, Riccardo Calafiori darts into the half-space from full-back to drag Maxence Lacroix away in between Neto and the French centre-back, opening up a massive gap in between Chelsea’s back three.

Arsenal score their winner against Chelsea

It didn’t help that the Blues had thrown men forward and had less time to settle into their shape, but this is what is going to happen if you look to outscore opponents to win matches. Which is what Alonso appears to be trying to do early on.

It’s not a problem that is occurring only when Chelsea attack, however. The goal vs Fulham was conceded in the same manner.

Fulham exploited Chelsea’s defence too

Hato is attracted wide to Timothy Castagne, a Fulham forward pulls away Colwill, and Josh King can dart in behind Chelsea’s backline with Morgan Rogers none the wiser.

Would these problems be solved if Caicedo was playing? He would definitely stop some attacks before they become dangerous.

But he may take a while to get up to speed, and Chelsea have relied on the Ecuadorian to basically run their midfield for far too long.

Selling Marc Cucurella, though, at first may not have appeared to be a disaster, but they lost a reliable full-back and a player who could also play in midfield pretty well.

Alonso is now having to shoehorn Malo Gusto into midfield and rely on Reece James to try and stay fit (good luck with that), whilst he also has to wait for Marco Palestra to recover from injury, which may explain why Hato is struggling so much.

Sure, they can dial JP Morgan for scoring solutions. Sure, it’s a very cool moniker for a slick, thriving attack. But you’re only a sobering loss away to Brentford/Brighton/Bournemouth from facing harsh realities in this league.

Those murmurs of Chelsea being able to challenge for the title were always fanciful because, despite an inevitably busy transfer market, they haven’t yet built a defence that throws themselves into tackles like their lives depend on it, and teams know how to move their back five around.

To once again quote a famous Scottish ex-player: “Attack wins you matches, defence wins you titles.”

After the international break, Alonso has to somehow transform Chelsea into an assertive team out of possession and get rid of the gaping holes between his centre-backs if he is to have a successful maiden season in the Premier League.