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Xabi Alonso admitted that Chelsea failed to produce enough attacking quality to deserve victory in their 1-0 defeat to Sunderland.
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The Spanish manager criticised Chelsea’s lack of creativity, patience and attacking consistency against Sunderland’s low defensive block.
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Alonso expressed concerns over Chelsea’s growing injury problems, with João Pedro, Josh Acheampong, Maxence Lacroix, Jorrel Hato and Jamie Gittens among the players unavailable for the disappointing defeat.
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Chelsea goalkeeper Mike Penders urged his teammates to remain united despite suffering their fourth defeat in 10 Premier League matches, while the result left the Blues fifth on 16 points and Sunderland 19th with seven defeats from 10 games.
November 09, (THEWILL) – Chelsea coach Xabi Alonso has admitted that the team did not do enough to win in the 1-0 defeat to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Sunday.
The hosts ended their poor run of form with a battling performance to stun Chelsea, who failed to show their quality in another disappointing showing.
The Black Cats had won just once in their last nine matches to sit in the bottom of the table, but Enzo Le Fee’s penalty was enough to hand them the maximum points.
Alonso was disappointed with the team’s performance in the encounter after they suffered a fourth defeat in 10 matches.
He lamented: “I would say there were situations that we could have defended better, situations that we could have got better advantages in attack, but the game was really even, really competitive,” said Alonso.
“They were waiting for the chance – and they got it. After they took the lead, we were trying, but we were not producing much.
“The first goal is always important and today, when we were behind, we didn’t produce enough.
“It wasn’t the best game. I think that we didn’t deserve more than probably one point. The game was really close.”
Alonso opted to start Pedro Neto as a false nine with Danny Welbeck and Emmanuel Emegha on the bench. He admitted that Chelsea lacked presence in the game.
He added: “Not much happened, to be honest, just that action [for the Sunderland penalty]. We had the cross in the first half, the header from Morgan (Rogers), but we didn’t produce enough to deserve to win.
“We were against a low block. We missed a bit of patience and a bit of quality, creativity in the last third to create more chances. You need to be more consistent to move the ball from one side to the other, and we didn’t do good enough.”
The Spanish manager rued the absence of key players with the likes of João Pedro, Josh Acheampong, Maxence Lacroix, Jorrel Hato, and Jamie Gittens missing the clash.
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Alonso concluded: “There are situations,’ he acknowledged. ‘Yesterday Josh felt something and he was not fit to play. So we are shorter in options and we need to go through this time.
“Even when we win, or when we lose, we miss some players that we have injured and for sure we are waiting to have them back because they are important. Now we need to use the time to recover them, but with the players we have, we have to get ready for the next one.”
Xabi Alonso has been criticised for his constant change of formation, and personnel, leading to inconsistency.
Only Tottenham (28) have made more more line-up changes than Chelsea (24) in the Premier League this season.
Similarly, Chelsea goalkeeper, Mike Penders, was disappointed with result, while urging his teammates to stick together despite the defeat.
He said: “Very disappointed with the result. You know when you come here to their stadium that it will be a difficult game, and they will fight very hard.
“At one point, it went very fast from side to side. Sometimes we have control and, of course, in certain moments when you go higher up the pitch they will be very aggressive and the way they play is very difficult.
“If you watch some of the last games, we played pretty well. The structure is getting better and it’s a pity that we have lost this game.
“It’s a matter of staying together. I think we’ve had some good games, but after losing these games, we have to stick together. It’s the international break now, so we can calm our heads, and when we come back we need to all be motivated and go again.”
The defeat left Chelsea in fifth with 16 points from 10 matches, winning five, drawing one and losing four.
Sunderland moved up to 19th on the Premier League log, with two wins, one draw and seven defeats.
The Blues will return to action against Leeds United after the international break on November 21, while Sunderland will face Aston Villa on the same day.
