Chelsea should end Marcos Alonso’s banishment and return him to the XI
Marcos Alonso has not played since the first half against Ajax on November 5 and is linked to a January move to Inter Milan. His absence has not improved Chelsea.
Frank Lampard reinstated Emerson into the starting XI based on a game where the referee ultimately leveled the playing field by taking two men from the other team. Chelsea vs. Ajax was a game nobody will see again anytime soon. Two red cards, two own goals, two penalties. A completely dreadful performance from the Blues until they found themselves with a two-man advantage.
It was easy for Lampard and the fans to think his substitutions made a difference against Ajax because Reece James, who came in for the second half in place of Marcos Alonso, scored. Not quite.
For the duration of time Chelsea was playing against nine men, they had the same amount of shots on target as Ajax: three. Ajax was still on par with Chelsea even while two men down.
Marcos Alonso has always been a scapegoat for the team’s defensive problems. Alonso is not fast. Everybody in the world and those already dead know that. However, Chelsea does not have an overall fast team, they have an intelligent one. John Terry was famous for being slow, but he was still arguably the best defender the league has ever seen. Why? Intelligence. Positioning. Picking your moments.
This is obviously not a comparison, let alone an equivalence, between John Terry and Marcos Alonso. Rather, it’s to show that the emphasis that has been placed on speed is overstated.
Fans – Chelsea fans, especially – have short memories. This is why Jose Mourinho said that his biggest achievement is winning the next game, because fans will not remember anything you did in the past. The same can be applied to Alonso. Alonso did not become slow overnight. When he won the Premier League for Chelsea he was not fast.
Why do fans suddenly feel edgy because of his pace? Why now?
Off the top of my head… Fantasy. Pep Guardiola. Tiki-taka / Pep-ball.
Guardiola supposedly rejected Chelsea because he could not reach an agreement with the Chelsea board over the amount of money he would be allowed to spend. Chelsea fans used this as a knock on the board, insinuating that the board should have handed over Chelsea’s financial control to Guardiola so he could buy players and make Chelsea great again. What a short-sighted board!
Needless to say, Chelsea made the right decision by not handing over Abramovich’s revenue to the Spaniard. Chelsea does not have the resources for what Guardiola wants, and that is not what Chelsea is built on.
Guardiola, while at Manchester City, has bought four full backs. You can decide for yourself which ones are fast. Liverpool has two fast full-backs.
Over the past two seasons, Chelsea fans have been fantasizing on being either Manchester City or Liverpool. Not just Chelsea fans, many other fans. This made them suddenly start looking for Manchester City players in the Chelsea squad and, upon not finding them, began to despise the Chelsea squad.
Why? Pace. Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta: What don’t they have? Pace. What do they have? Doesn’t matter.
Alonso may have had a bad game against Ajax, but who didn’t? Kepa Arrizabalaga scored an own goal with his face and Tammy Abraham scored an own goal as well.
This was a game where everything possible when against Chelsea, and then suddenly everything possible went in their favor. Ajax was the cause of their own undoing. Without the utter craziness of that Ajax game, Cesar Azpilicueta doesn’t change the game at left back, Reece James doesn’t change the game at right back and instead Hakim Ziyech runs rings around the Blues for 90 minutes.
Marcos Alonso had been playing well during the period Emerson was out. It is understandable if Frank Lampard doesn’t see the traits he’s looking for in Alonso, like speed.
However, Alonso has experience that Emerson doesn’t have. He has better communication with the back line and his opposite full back, whoever it is. He is more useful in set-pieces, defensively and offensively. He is an actual goal threat. He is a wildcard option because he can pull special moments out of thin air. Last, Marcos Alonso is a better defender than Emerson Palmieri and it’s not even close.
Frank Lampard is the head coach, so he obviously knows a lot more than you or me. It would be nice to know what we’re missing, other than Marcos Alonso in the lineup.