The Two Chelsea Players Xabi Alonso Was Impressed By In Juventus Defeat | OneFootball

Another defeat for Chelsea in pre-season, this time against Juventus in Hong Kong. Video Credit: Absolute Chelsea

Xabi Alonso was full of praise for the performances of Chelsea duo Geovany Quenda and Marco Palestra against Juventus despite Wednesday’s 1-0 pre-season defeat.

Quenda made his first appearance under Alonso on this pre-season tour after he was initially left out of the squad due to a minor injury.

The recovery was quick, and the 19-year-old, who joined from Sporting this summer on a pre-agreed deal, arrived in Hong Kong to join the squad a few days ago.

He was arguably Chelsea’s brightest spark in the first half against Juventus.

Combining well with Palestra, who made many overlapping and underlapping runs on the right side of the pitch, Quenda created a few chances with his crosses.

Alonso was unsurprisingly impressed by the summer signing’s display.

“Yeah, happy with Geo,” Alonso said in his post-match press conference.

Plenty for Alonso to learn from during the defeat to Juventus - both positives and negatives. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

“After he missed the last week in Australia, he wasn't there, but he came a couple of days ago and, to play 45 minutes after the little injury, he's been very good.

“Happy that he could have these playing minutes.”

Quenda only stayed on the pitch until the break, which is quite understandable since it was his first appearance, and was eventually replaced by Estevao Willian.

The other option at right wing in the squad, Pedro Neto, made the bench but did not get to play.

The pecking order for this position remains unclear.

Pedro Neto has the experience, but Estevao and Quenda arguably have the higher ceilings as players, and giving them more minutes to develop could benefit Chelsea in the long term.

Estevao made just 12 Premier League starts last season (22 appearances in total), while Pedro Neto made 30 starts (34 appearances), albeit some were as a left winger.

Quenda, on the other hand, made only seven starts in Liga Portugal for Sporting after suffering from a metatarsal fracture that sidelined him for four months.

Palestra, of course, deserved some of the credit for how good Chelsea looked on the right.

Since both Reece James and Malo Gusto remain on extended leave after representing England and France, respectively, at the World Cup, Chelsea have had very limited options at right-back.

Palestra is the only natural right-back in the pre-season squad, while two young centre-backs, Josh Acheampong and Tayo Subuloye, have helped cover this role.

As a result, Palestra has played quite a lot of minutes in the last week, having started back-to-back games against Spurs and Juventus.

Palestra has impressed since joining from Atalanta this summer. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

It is quite impressive that he still tirelessly bombed forward to join the attack against Juventus.

“Marco for sure is having a great impact,” Alonso added.

“You see his power. He repeats up and down, with big stamina, quality as well in the last third. So we are impressed with him.

“Happy that we have Marco in the squad and that he gives solutions. He's a flexible player, so it's going to be very interesting to work with him.”

James is still expected to hold the first-choice right-back spot, especially given that he is the captain, unless Alonso has other plans.

Given his injury record, however, it is always useful to have a couple of capable back-ups in Gusto and Palestra, who offer different traits to the team.