Xabi Alonso, the coach, has never quite fit into the image that many would have had of him when he brought his illustrious playing career to an end. The former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich midfielder was in many ways the embodiment of tiki-taka, the man who broke up the great Barcelona midfield on the international stage so that Spain could apply more control, and yet it is a label that he himself rejects. Too much "defensive possession," he insists.
Alonso the player was all about control, and his teams have largely displayed that quality, but you would not have seen that deep-lying playmaker apply the remorseless high pressure that he is so committed to that it cost him his job at the Santiago Bernabeu. The 44-year-old can still ping passes with the best of them, and yet, at least before he came to Chelsea, his early weeks in coaching roles have been defined by a commitment to build strong defensive foundations before his side can get carried away with expressing themselves in attack. Much of Alonso's playing career was spent in teams where the idea of compromising one's playing style was an anathema.
Spain, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid changed for no one. Rafa Benitez's Liverpool might have been a bit different; perhaps then it is notable that for much of the five years he spent in England he was intrigued by a switch to Arsenal and that great refusenik Arsene Wenger. And yet from the micro -- the shuffle to a back four that outfoxed Thomas Tuchel and handed Bayer Leverkusen the Bundesliga ascendancy -- to the shift in his own formation at Real Madrid, Alonso has proven himself a manager willing to change.
That then means that what we saw in Chelsea's season opener against Fulham is liable to change. Alonso's squad is still in flux, a new goalkeeper due to arrive in the form of Emiliano Martinez, Enzo Fernandez likelier than not to move to Manchester City. Even the formation remains in flux, a back three in the Premier League followed by what looked more like a 4-2-3-1 as Luton Town were slowly but convincingly dismissed from the EFL Cup.
It may be some time before we see the manager's vision made plain at Stamford Bridge. And yet from his public utterances we are already getting a sense of what he wants most of all... and how hard it might be to apply. In his post-match press conference after Monday's visit to Craven Cottage, Alonso used the word "control" on four occasions.
Asked to reflect on a customarily hectic English game, he said: "We can expect that in the Premier League, we can expect all other contexts as well. But to manage in different moments what to do, not to lose this control, this emotional control. "You know that the Premier League is fantastic because sometimes the games are out of your hands.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
