Xabi Alonso has conducted a short post-match press conference following Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat to Brentford on Friday evening.
The Blues were battered in the second-half at the Gtech Community Stadium with goals from Jaidon Anthony, Igor Thiago and Fabio Carvalho wiped the visitors away.
Alonso was extremely disappointed with what he saw from his Chelsea side, particularly with the second-half display where they conceded three goals.
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Below is the full transcript from Alonso’s presser.
What disappointed you from your side’s performance?
Well, I would say that we have dropped our consistency, our competitive mentality needed in the second half. We know that the small details can be decisive. We don’t have to give advantage in this kind of games. What they do with little, they get a lot, and credit to them. But it’s about 95 minutes and we have not been able to keep that level throughout these few games in the start of the season and it’s something that we’ll have to do better.
Did tonight show you just how difficult this job is going to be at Chelsea?
Well, we knew that it’s a process, that it’s still five games in a competitive Premier League, that each game is really hard and we knew that it was going to be hard, so it’s nothing new.
Levi Colwill said that Chelsea getting bullied at set pieces, I wondered what you made of that?
Well, we need to, not just at set pieces, in defensive, in duels, in build-up, in control games. We concede the first goal but still during the game and when you lose shape, you are out of control, you concede in a transition and they do that well, things that we have worked [on]. So to be able to understand the game, to know what it takes to be competing until the end, it’s something that, it’s 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.
You brought on three teenagers, it’s quite a tough place, especially for a 16-year-old. What was your thinking there because there’s more experienced players on the bench?
Yeah, with 2-0 we brought Madhi [Nicoll-Jazuli], that he has great energy, that at the moment in the middle we were short of numbers. The other ones are Geo [Quenda] and Estevao. Yeah, because they have been trained well, they are part of the squad, so everyone that is part of the squad but before we were playing for 75 minutes with a squad with experience and that we have had good things but not for long enough time to compete for the better result.
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