“Progressive” coach brought by Xabi Alonso should bring new dimension to this part of Chelsea training | OneFootball

Xabi Alonso will be bringing all manner of innovation to Chelsea this summer, including on the physical side of things.

If you enjoy Chelsea News coverage and want to see more of it, add us as a preferred source on Google to make us a favourite and see more of our content.

There’s a trope when a new manager comes in of him criticising the fitness of the group he’s taking over, and blaming that for any early issues.

Given Xabi Alonso is taking over with a whole summer to work with his group, that shouldn’t be an excuse. But it will be very interesting to see how he tries to improve things on the physical side at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea’s new coach brings “progressive methods” to Blues’ fitness training

The Sun’s piece about his arrival notes that he will be bringing his fitness coach Ismael Camenforte Lopez, who worked with him at Bayer Leverkusen. The Spaniard has been “praised for his progressive methods,” and “noticed for his high level of tactical awareness as a fitness coach.”

That means the players will be using balls and “re-creating match situations” to “keep players engaged”. Sounds better than running up hills all summer. We look forward to seeing how it works out on the pitch.

In other news…

There were major tactical considerations in appointing Xabi Alonso it seems, with Chelsea trying to avoid the situation they had some years ago when changing between two very different coaches.

Chelsea are also going to make changes to their transfer policy, with Xabi Alonso likely encouraged to sign up by a change in direction towards more proven talent.

DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL CHELSEA NEWS APP FOR ALL THE LATEST UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON THE APP STORE

Check out the latest edition of Simon Phillips’ SPTC podcast here: