'Good energy' at Chelsea as Alonso kickstarts reign in Sydney / Photo: © AFP
'Good energy' at Chelsea as Alonso kickstarts reign in Sydney
New manager Xabi Alonso said Monday there was "good energy" at Chelsea as he bids to turn around the club's fortunes, but was reluctant to say what a successful first season would look like.
The Spaniard officially began the job on July 1 and will take charge of his first competitive fixture in Sydney on Tuesday when they face Western Sydney Wanderers.
He faces a huge task to get Chelsea back in the running for major honours after their disappointing 10th place finish last season and failure to make Europe.
They last won the Premier League a decade ago, under Italian manager Antonio Conte.
Alonso, who has made a series of pre-season signings headlined by Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa, said he liked what he had seen so far.
"We want to build a competitive team. We are in that process. We have great quality, great talent," he said.
"We need to know what it takes to compete in the Premier League, and we want to have a squad with the right balance between quality and mentality.
"But I think that we are starting the new season with good energy, that's going to be important."
The former Liverpool and Spain midfielder rose to prominence as one of Europe's brightest coaches by guiding Bayer Leverkusen to an unbeaten German league and cup double in the 2023/24 season.
However, he lasted just seven months in the Real Madrid hotseat. Appointed last year, he departed the Spanish giants in January.
Alonso is associated with a short passing game and implemented a 3-4-2-1 system at Leverkusen that proved so successful.
But he has also shown pragmatism in his tactics, a trait he plans to bring to Chelsea.
"We will be flexible in our tactics, in our approaches, game plans," he said, conscious of not trying to impose a completely different system from last season.
"It's not that I'm changing everything. It's about updating. It's about developing something that they have done with new concepts that each manager has.
"But the good thing is that many things that I like they have already done. So now it's about changing or updating a few other things."
Since Chelsea last won the Premier League, several managers have come and gone after failing to repeat the feat, and the pressure is on Alonso to snap the drought.
But he said it was too early to say what would be considered a successful season.
"I don't want to talk too early about what's our goal," said the 44-year-old, who signed a four-year contract.
"We want to deserve to be as high as possible, and for that we need to work hard. We need to develop this team with new players, with new ideas, but sometimes it takes longer, sometimes it happens quicker.
"But so far, a good feeling, good energy. The players are working hard, and that's what we want."
V.Bennett--TNT
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