“Everything was disappointing” is Xabi Alonso’s verdict on his Chelsea side at the end of the Premier League’s opening phase

Brentford (0) 3 v Chelsea (0) 0

Premier League

Matchweek 5

Talking Points

By Kaz Mochlinski at the Brentford Community Stadium

“Everything was disappointing” admitted a very chastened Xabi Alonso after his Chelsea team were badly beaten by Brentford, crumbling completely as they conceded three goals in the second half.

It was by a long way the lowest point so far for Chelsea’s new manager, sending the side spiralling down the table with two wins, two defeats and a draw from his first five league matches.

The Blues enter the extended international break on a goal difference of minus two, having let in 12 goals already - more than any other club in the Premier League. Only Coventry City, Ipswich Town, Sunderland and Crystal Palace are also in double figures.

On most of the basic defensive metrics, Chelsea are very close to or right at the bottom of the Premier League. Including goals scored against them from set-pieces, which now number six in their five games.

Yet this was the first time in Alonso’s seven matches in all competitions when he had not selected a different defence, with Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana and Maxence Lacroix having previously played together versus Brighton & Hove Albion last month.

They should be Chelsea’s best back three, but, in both of the games when they have started as a unit, they have been unable to prevent the opposition from finding the net three times.

With Colwill as captain, the Blues’ record is even worse, because at Brentford he was leading the team for the third time this season and on each occasion they have let in three goals, against Leeds United in the EFL Cup, Brighton and now the Bees.

Shockingly, Colwill commented afterwards that, in his opinion, Chelsea allowed themselves to be “bullied” by Brentford, stating “At times, we have been bullied in the box. We need to definitely improve with that.”

In truth, the Chelsea contingent who spoke in the dressing room area following the final whistle seemed to be struggling for answers about what had happened, with no single cause being immediately identifiable, including by Alonso.

“Everything was disappointing. Especially the result, for sure. The main thing. But we can do better. We must do better. 45 minutes we were competing well. But in the second half we have trouble, we have conceded three goals.”

And the extremely subdued Blues boss also added: “Disappointed with the second half, disappointed with the result. This is not how to compete in the Premier League. We were punished.”

For mitigation, there were five Chelsea changes, and only around half their first-choice side was playing, with club captain Reece James, Marco Palestra, Moisés Caicedo and João Pedro all absent due to injury, plus Roméo Lavia remaining on the subs’ bench.

It could be said that at best six of the optimal starting XI were involved on this Friday night. Jordan Henderson made his Chelsea debut (against his previous club), while there were first league starts for Pep Chavarría, Valentin Barco and Danny Welbeck.

Alonso additionally caused some surprise by bringing on three teenage substitutes, in Geovany Quenda, Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli and Estêvão Willian. Frustratingly, the latter was only given three minutes plus stoppage time to show his exciting wing wizardry.

Nicoll-Jazuli became Chelsea’s youngest-ever Premier League player, aged 16 years 225 days, taking the record from Jody Morris, as well as being the first player born in 2010 to play in English football’s top division.

But was giving him a debut as a late replacement a message to the club’s hierarchy from Alonso (who, on the subject of Nicoll-Jazuli, pointed out both that “he has great energy” and “at the moment in the middle we were short of numbers”)?

At this early stage of his first season in charge of Chelsea, should there be any concern about Alonso? His selections (allowing for important injuries)? Or his very imperfect spoken English, which might be compromising his communication with the players?

“To be able to understand the game, to know what it takes to be competing till the end, it’s something that is a process. It takes time for them to feel it, and at the moment we are not feeling it fully to compete for the whole game” Alonso explained at Brentford.

However, the manager is perhaps not helping through his tactical variations. Why has he switched from a 3-4-3 formation to 4-2-3-1 in the second half of three consecutive Premier League matches?

Significantly, this should have been the Bees at their most vulnerable, having had to play an EFL Cup game in midweek, in contrast to the Blues’ clear period of preparation between their Premier League fixtures on successive weekends.

Furthermore, Brentford were without their two first-choice centre-backs in captain Nathan Collins and Sepp van den Berg, resulting in 20-year-old Austrian defender Jannik Schuster starting for the Bees for the first time in a home match.

Yet the visitors were still stopped from scoring for the first time this season. Morgan Rogers is statistically the most effective summer signing in the Premier League up to now, but at Brentford he had his poorest performance for Chelsea.

Cole Palmer has been becoming less and less productive the more he has played during this campaign, with a strong suspicion that he is once again struggling with chronic injuries, lately sitting down on the pitch immediately when games finish.

“We were in situations when we were there and not precise in the last action, so that is why we didn't score” rationalised Alonso. “We missed a little bit the last pass, the last dribble, to get shots in in clear positions.”

Over recent weeks, Chelsea have been increasing their control of the ball and thereby their possession percentages, but being less threatening. For Alonso “It’s not only defensively, with the ball there are some parts that we need to do better.”

Frankly, the whole of the Blues’ experience of playing the Bees this time was an unmitigated disaster from the moment the decision was made within the club to needlessly wear an unattractive alternative kit instead of the famous royal blue.

Favouring commercial income over heritage, corporate greed over tradition, it sacrificed a historic sporting identity in the hope of short-term gain from replica sportswear sales. And it got absolutely the footballing outcome that it deserved.