Chelsea have altered their starting line-up 24 times across 10 Premier League matches, according to BBC analysis at the Stadium of Light. Only Tottenham, with 28, have made more changes in the division. On Saturday, Alonso introduced a three-man midfield for the first time this season and asked Pedro Neto to play as a false nine for the second match running, with Joao Pedro injured and no recognised striker on the team sheet.
The BBC’s verdict, borrowing Claudio Ranieri’s 2002-03 Chelsea nickname: there is a new Tinkerman at Stamford Bridge.
The label landed after a flat afternoon in Sunderland. Enzo Le Fée converted a 36th-minute penalty, awarded when Brian Brobbey was brought down by Levi Colwill as the Dutchman drove into the box. Chelsea held 68.7% of possession and rarely tested the Sunderland goal. Morgan Rogers, the £117m club-record summer signing, squandered a clear headed chance. Cole Palmer, dropped from the latest England squad, was anonymous. Colwill was booked, withdrawn at half-time, and Moises Caicedo shifted to centre-back.
£270m and no identity
The spending has not bought clarity. Chelsea’s gross summer outlay reached £276.5m, with Rogers the headline name and Jordan Henderson arriving on a free from Brentford. Only Crystal Palace have conceded more shots on target than Chelsea’s 50, the BBC noted, and yet Chelsea top the division with 53 shots on target.
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The two numbers describe a team that does not know what it is.
Martinez, James and Joao Pedro all out
Alonso has some cover for the drift. Chelsea went into the Sunderland match missing a long list of senior players. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is out with a broken jaw after a collision at Everton. Captain Reece James, Joao Pedro (thigh), Maxence Lacroix (hamstring, out until January), Jorrel Hato and Josh Acheampong are all unavailable. Caicedo had barely trained all week before kick-off.
“There are situations. Yesterday Josh said he was not ready to play, so we are short of options,” Alonso told the BBC after the match.
The manager placed no blame on the officials, but was sharp about Chelsea’s defending of Brobbey, saying Sunderland had created their opening “out of almost nothing.”
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Fifth, and ahead of last season’s pace
The table reads more kindly than the analysis. Chelsea sit fifth with five wins, four losses and a draw. According to the BBC, the club has collected five more points than it did after the equivalent fixtures last season, when it finished 10th.
The structural argument is harder to dismiss. A team starting matches without a striker, rotating back fours each week and trying a new midfield shape every fortnight is not, by any conventional definition, one with a style of play. After £276.5m spent and 10 league games played, no one can describe with much confidence what a prototypical Alonso Chelsea performance looks like.
Chelsea host Leeds United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday 21 November.
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