Sunderland secured a 1-0 home win over Chelsea at the Stadium of Light, with Enzo le Fee converting a 36th-minute penalty, but the result did little to ease the scrutiny on Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso. The Spaniard’s frustration was obvious throughout, as his side’s struggles for identity continued.
It is starting to feel as though Alonso is the latest “Tinkerman” at Stamford Bridge, a nickname first associated with Claudio Ranieri back in 2002-03. For the first time this season, Chelsea lined up with a three-man midfield. They also went without a recognized striker for the second match in a row, with Pedro Neto again struggling to lead the line.
Sunderland, by contrast, were led by target man Brian Brobbey, who won the penalty after being brought down by Levi Colwill. Le Fee’s spot kick was the game’s only goal.
That decision came moments after Chelsea were denied a penalty when Cole Palmer went down under a challenge from Luke O’Nien. The video assistant referee ruled that contact had started outside the box. The two incidents in quick succession left Alonso and his coaching staff visibly angry on the touchline after the Sunderland goal.
After the game, however, Alonso refused to criticize the officials. Instead, he gave brief answers that changed the subject and were critical of his players for not carrying out the game plan properly.
Asked whether Brobbey was simply unstoppable, Alonso, 44, replied: “No, he’s stoppable. He’s stoppable, but we have to do it better than we did today.
“Out of almost nothing he got a couple of chances. He got the penalty as well.
“I’m not happy with how we defended that situation. It’s something that we could have avoided, something that we had worked on during the week. To concede penalties is not good for us.”
The criticism left nowhere to hide for Colwill, who was substituted at half-time. Moises Caicedo filled in at centre-back despite having barely completed a full training session all week and needing careful management of his own fitness issues. Chelsea also created few clear chances, aside from a headed opportunity that Morgan Rogers, a £117m signing, squandered. Palmer struggled too, days after being left out of the England squad.
Before the season started, Alonso said he wanted his Chelsea side to be “unpredictable.” Although injuries are beyond his control, his side have achieved that, but to their own detriment.
Chelsea’s identity crisis
Chelsea have five wins, four losses and a draw in 10 Premier League games under Alonso. Only Tottenham (28) have made more line-up changes than Chelsea (24) in the Premier League this season.
Early in the campaign, Chelsea at least had a settled and exciting front three of Joao Pedro, Rogers and Palmer. That trio was largely the reason for a positive start, despite the club failing to keep a clean sheet against top-flight opposition until Alonso’s eighth game in charge.
With Caicedo injured, Chelsea suffered problems in midfield and kept changing their side from match to match, while also experimenting with personnel to fix the defense. They appeared on course to adopt the back-three system Alonso excelled with during his historic German double-winning season at Bayer Leverkusen in 2023-24. Then captain Reece James was injured after Caicedo returned following the international break.
Joao Pedro featured in wins against Bournemouth and Everton before sustaining a thigh injury, having already missed Brazil’s international matches. Number one goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez broke his jaw in a collision at Everton. Maxence Lacroix, a near ever-present since joining from Crystal Palace in the summer, is expected to be out until January with a hamstring injury. Defender Jorrel Hato has also suffered a setback in recent weeks.
The injuries have left Alonso reacting to events when picking his starting XI. “There are situations. Yesterday Josh [Acheampong] said he was not ready to play, so we are short of options and we need to walk through this step,” he said.
“Even when we win, when we lose, we miss some players that we have injured and for sure we are waiting for them to come back because they are important.”
Supporters have also been frustrated that Estevao Willian, who came on at half-time on Sunday, has started only one league match this season.
Before Sunday’s game, Chelsea were averaging just 46% possession. They then dominated the ball at Sunderland with 68.7% but did not create many significant chances. Only Crystal Palace have conceded more shots on target than Chelsea’s 50, while the Blues lead the league with 53 shots on target. Plenty of chances have come at both ends of their matches.
Alonso can still take some comfort from the fact that Chelsea have collected five more points than they managed from the equivalent fixtures last season. The club are on course to qualify for the Champions League and sit fifth in the table. That is a low bar, however, after a dismal campaign last season, when Chelsea finished 10th.
Going into the November international break, Alonso remains a long way from establishing a style of play or an identity capable of delivering consistency. He did promise in an interview last week that Chelsea would be “different” and “better” by the end of the season.