Chelsea lost to the Champions League in a friendly this weekend, but Xabi Alonso was focused on three goals.
Chelsea were beaten 2-0 by Portsmouth in a friendly behind closed doors as they stepped up their preparations for a return to domestic football. Xabi Alonso’s side faced the Championship club at Cobham on Saturday in what was largely viewed as a training session for the Blues.
A number of senior players are on international duty who have taken a step towards the recovery of several injured players and tactical work as the main objective from a friendly match, the result is not the focus and therefore should not be treated as a competitive game.
It also allowed some young stars to play with the first teams, with a strong focus on player development. Alonso has already shown his intention to play youngsters if necessary.
Last month he said: “Yes, with [it] 2-0 [to Brentford] We brought Madhi [Nicoll-Jazuli]that he has great energy, at the moment we had a shortage of numbers in the middle. Others Geo [Quenda] and Estevao.
“Yes, they are part of the squad because they have trained well, so everyone who is part of the team, but we played 75 minutes with a squad with experience before and we had good things, but we didn’t have enough time to fight for a better result.”
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Another aim of Alonso’s three-week break would likely be to try to improve Chelsea’s defensive record, which has conceded the most goals in the Premier League this season with 12 goals. They conceded at least two goals in every league game and also conceded three goals to Leeds United in the Carabao Cup.
The absence of Moises Caicedo has not helped Chelsea’s resilience, with midfield Cole Palmer, Reece James and Marco Palestra having had injury problems so far this season, with the back four likely to feature in some capacity at the weekend.
Joao Pedro withdrew from the Brazil squad with a knee problem before Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat by Brentford. It became known that the forward met with a specialist after the extended international break.
Several Chelsea stars have been away to represent their nations over the past few weeks, Jamie Gittens being one of them. While playing for England Under-21s, he suffered a problem which left him on crutches to leave the stadium.
It’s been a mixed start for Alonso at Stamford Bridge, with wins over Fulham and Brighton coming before defeats to Arsenal and Brentford before a draw at home to Hull City.
A place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup was also secured after wins over Luton Town and Leeds, but they will now face a tough test from Liverpool at Anfield.
Before that, “Chelsea” faces Alonso’s team in 10th place in the Premier League after five games against “Bournemouth”, “Everton” and London “Tottenham”.