Xabi Alonso said his Chelsea team lost control against Brentford in their 3-0 defeat on Friday evening and agreed with Levi Colwill that his side were bullied in set pieces.
Brentford scored three second-half goals to ease past Chelsea, with Jaidon Anthony, Igor Thiago and Fábio Carvalho all scoring.
For Alonso’s Chelsea, it meant they’re on a three-match winless run in the Premier League after losing to Arsenal, drawing with Hull and then this defeat to Brentford.
Post-match, Alonso bemoaned Chelsea’s game management. “I would say that we have dropped our consistency, our competitive mentality needed in the second half,” he said.
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“You know that the small details can be decisive. You don’t have to give advantage in these kind of games. But it’s about 95 minutes and we have not been able to keep that level throughout these few games in the start of the season and it’s something that we’ll have to do better.”
Colwill said on Sky Sports that Chelsea were being “bullied” at set pieces. “It was tough. Maybe we overexposed ourselves [at 1-0 down] and they hit us on the counter-attack, which they’re so good at,” Colwill said.
“Second half we weren’t good enough. We’ve got a lot to work on over the international break. Maybe at times we’ve been bullied [at set-pieces] and we have to improve at that. We can’t rely on our front three to pull us of danger — we all need to help each other. We’ve got a lot of room to improve.”
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Alonso agreed with his captain on the day, saying: “It’s not just set pieces, but in duels, defence, in build up, in and when we conceded first, but still we were in the game, but when you lose shape, you are out of control.
“So to be able to understand the game, to know what it takes to be competing until the end, is a process. It takes time for them to feel that. And at the moment we are not feeling it fully to compete for the whole game.”
For Keith Andrews, he was delighted with his Brentford side. “I was really looking forward to the game – the opposition have been setting up in a respectful way to nullify what we do,” he said.
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“I felt there was a performance bubbling, the approach was focused and in the second half we showed what we are. There’s a really nice connection between the fans and players. We’re enjoying the journey we’re on. I love feeling that energy and how we play. We need to consistently evolve how we play.”
And on Kevin Schade’s performance, Andrews said: “He’s a pressing machine. His work rate is outstanding — it’s something we have to have, even from our attacking players. Kevin consistently does that. He’s in a really good rhythm of his game. He’s immense. He’s in a good place.”
