Marcos Alonso

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Now that goals dried up, he realy doesnt offer much at all. 

Emerson also had great game recently. 

What will happen next? 

Sarri keep playing Alonso sadly.

[LAM09 6,754]

Now that goals dried up, he realy doesnt offer much at all. 
Emerson also had great game recently. 
What will happen next? 
Sarri keep playing Alonso sadly.

Zappacosta seems to be closer to the XI than him, so I'd take Azpi at LB for now.

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

He had a difficult game. So did Hazard. They didn't help each other out which is a massive problem, both want to come to the box, it just crowds the area.

I think there will need to be rotations in the next 4 or 5 games in key areas to prevent burning out players. Alonso has played non stop every week for 3 seasons now here, he needs rotation (said this last season) so does Azpi (again mentioned it seasons ago) because you can see with Sarri's demands of high full backs, overlapping, being really advanced and the regularity that these guys have had playing almost every minute for the last 3, 4 or 5 seasons, it's catching up with them, both are obviously fit enough to play the roles naturally but it must be physically exhausting playing every match every season. Also guys like Kante and Jorginho might end up having to be rested in upcoming games to try keep them fresh.

Pedro, Willian and Hazard again played a lot of games this season too maybe time to use Callum a bit more regularly to rest these guys around 60/70 mins in (although if taking Sarri ends up taking Eden off and gets anything like Conte got on here from certain members fuck knows how long he'll be liked 😂).

The rotation between Giroud and Morata has been decent enough, they've managed to play each other out of the team, playing a few games then getting changed, although through lack of goals or poor performances than a need for rest.... 

 

[Clockwork 1,794]

I am not buying he has been overused excuse, he plays once a week and was not called up for international break either. He should be one of our most rested starter.

He is not good, more than that I really hated his demeanor. For instance before he was subbed, there was a moment he was tugging for the ball, and was pushed out of bound. While the ball was in play, he was walking around complaining to the ref instead of focusing on a dangerous situation.  

[Special Juan 27,430]

He's just not dynamic enough, he plays the same way all the time. The best full backs take risks, not only do they take risks but they also are absolutely golden on the ball.

He doesn't take players on, he relies too much on his crosses and the goals he scores mask the fact he is a very average player.

[Vesper 28,879]

21 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

He's just not dynamic enough, he plays the same way all the time. The best full backs take risks, not only do they take risks but they also are absolutely golden on the ball.

He doesn't take players on, he relies too much on his crosses and the goals he scores mask the fact he is a very average player.

He had the worst crossing game I have ever seen at Chels from a fullback. Horrid!

[manpe 10,861]

4 minutes ago, Vesper said:

He had the worst crossing game I have ever seen at Chels from a fullback. Horrid!

Came close to some of the shit shows Bosingwa put us through with his "crosses", but not quite that bad yet  At least his high stray balls went past the first man...

[Vesper 28,879]

31 minutes ago, manpe said:

Came close to some of the shit shows Bosingwa put us through with his "crosses", but not quite that bad yet  At least his high stray balls went past the first man...

My last real memories of Bosingwa were at least a good ones, the 2012 CL semis and final! He came on v Barca when Cahill was hurt, then Terry was sent off and he played CB, then he started against Bayern and shut down Ribery.

[manpe 10,861]

4 minutes ago, Vesper said:

My last real memories of Bosingwa were at least a good ones, the 2012 CL semis and final! He came on v Barca when Cahill was hurt, then Terry was sent off and he played CB, then he started against Bayern and shut down Ribery.

Sure, Bos is a leg in that regard, but Benny Hill was still the soundtrack to his crosses

[BlueLyon 9,359]

17 hours ago, LAM09 said:

21 hours ago, BlueLyon said:

Now that goals dried up, he realy doesnt offer much at all. 
Emerson also had great game recently. 
What will happen next? 
Sarri keep playing Alonso sadly.

Zappacosta seems to be closer to the XI than him, so I'd take Azpi at LB for now.

Meh Zappacosta is just one of those safe short fix options..decently reliable but offers absolutely nothing extra. 

Emerson might be more raw at the moment, but his celining is still quite high IMO. Worth a risk in couple games. 

These safe options have to stop. I remember Mourinho at Real in 2012 when he shipped young, but clearly talented Carvajal out in favour of Essien to play RB. Lucky for Real, they got him back eventualy. We failed to do that with Kdb or Salah because of more proven safe options. I still fully believe if Emerson leaves to play regular football elsewhere, he will end up better than any fullback we had since Cole and Iva (Azpi excluded).

The club has to realize that we have to look longterm and try more risks or we will never improve. 

[LAM09 6,754]

Meh Zappacosta is just one of those safe short fix options..decently reliable but offers absolutely nothing extra. 
Emerson might be more raw at the moment, but his celining is still quite high IMO. Worth a risk in couple games. 
These safe options have to stop. I remember Mourinho at Real in 2012 when he shipped young, but clearly talented Carvajal out in favour of Essien to play RB. Lucky for Real, they got him back eventualy. We failed to do that with Kdb or Salah because of more proven safe options. I still fully believe if Emerson leaves to play regular football elsewhere, he will end up better than any fullback we had since Cole and Iva (Azpi excluded).
The club has to realize that we have to look longterm and try more risks or we will never improve. 

Emerson hasn't even made our match day squad in the Prem this season, so chances of that suddenly changing are minuscule.

Every man and his dog knows he's the best FB we have expect for another manager of this club.

[Special Juan 27,430]

It's fucking bizarre that Emerson situation, totally dumb founded as to why he isn't getting a sniff.

 

[chelsea_4_eva 1,159]

5 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

It's fucking bizarre that Emerson situation, totally dumb founded as to why he isn't getting a sniff.

 

Thissssss

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Teams have started blocking us in the middle, knowing Jorginho controls our tempo, knowing Hazard likes to drift into the middle. It has been tough for us in recent weeks, but tactically, packing so many players in the middle against us means there should be space on the flanks. Who do we have on our flanks? Alonso and Azpi. At least I see Azpi assisting Giroud with crosses, but what does Alonso contribute if he doesn't score a worldie in the match? What did Alonso do with all that space he got from fulham packing players around Jorginho? He couldn't supply one of the best headers in the game with one cross, he just crossed it into the stands, couldn't make runs into the space for our midfielders to find him, couldn't beat a marker 1 on 1...... These are things Robertson, Trippier, Mendy, Marcelo, Carvajal, Alba, Alaba do on a daily basis. These guys don't score every match, but with the way they play, any attacker ahead of them enjoys a lot of space because of the threat from the fullbacks.

Alonso is a weakness and is beginning to stifle Hazard with his play style,  I mean, why does he make runs inside and force Hazard wide (away from the danger area) instead of keeping the width and forcing a defender to go wide to mark him hence creating space in the middle for a more dangerous Hazard? It's annoying really. His only strength is his shooting ability and that attribute is more useful to an attacker or midfielder.

[robsblubot 3,508]

Hazard is not stifled by anyone but himself. He was never that direct to make these sort of runs, not even when he had more support around him with Oscar still doing the dirty work for him. All I hear is excuses for him not to be the player folks imagine him to be.

Alonso is a left midfield. He was a left midfielder with Conte and is a left midfielder with Sarri.

I have no issues if folks want something different from a LB, overlaps, early crosses, but please take the time to understand positions and especially roles. They are not the same thing.

Been seeing variations of this for decades as I posted below. This should really work esp when employing 3 CMs (like we do) who can cover the sides in midfield. 

And please do check Alonso's heat map to see it clearly where he operates. It's not like he's surprising us in not doing certain things that LBs do....

 

[!Hazard! 3,394]

I totally agree with the above assessment on how the lack of width is killing us right now. Honestly, against teams like Fulham Pedro or Willian could play as a full back in this system. 

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

13 hours ago, kellzfresh said:

Teams have started blocking us in the middle, knowing Jorginho controls our tempo, knowing Hazard likes to drift into the middle. It has been tough for us in recent weeks, but tactically, packing so many players in the middle against us means there should be space on the flanks. Who do we have on our flanks? Alonso and Azpi. At least I see Azpi assisting Giroud with crosses, but what does Alonso contribute if he doesn't score a worldie in the match? What did Alonso do with all that space he got from fulham packing players around Jorginho? He couldn't supply one of the best headers in the game with one cross, he just crossed it into the stands, couldn't make runs into the space for our midfielders to find him, couldn't beat a marker 1 on 1...... These are things Robertson, Trippier, Mendy, Marcelo, Carvajal, Alba, Alaba do on a daily basis. These guys don't score every match, but with the way they play, any attacker ahead of them enjoys a lot of space because of the threat from the fullbacks.

Alonso is a weakness and is beginning to stifle Hazard with his play style,  I mean, why does he make runs inside and force Hazard wide (away from the danger area) instead of keeping the width and forcing a defender to go wide to mark him hence creating space in the middle for a more dangerous Hazard? It's annoying really. His only strength is his shooting ability and that attribute is more useful to an attacker or midfielder.

Eden is not being stifled because of Alonso, that is a lame excuse, if a left back can see those runs and make them then why can't a world class player like Eden do it? Its not rocket science to run in between the full back and center back or between the centre backs in more central areas is it? Eden like Willian too, comes to the ball far too much, particularly in deeper areas of the pitch (an issue Sarri has mentioned he should be wanting to get much more involved in the final third) he should be looking to get beyond and finish off moves, this has always been why people will question whether or not he will score more than 20 or 30 goals a season. Pedro is a great example I think, somebody who is not as gifted technically but will always bundle goals in somehow because hes selfless and will run off the back of teams even if he doesn't get it 99 out of 100 times because he knows eventually he will get it. Fair enough hes not going to score 30 goals a season but he will get 10+ this season in the PL, which for a player who isn't exactly at the level he was years ago or particularly blessed with anything that sticks out like Eden is with regards to dribbling, key passes etc is impressive. 

A lack of width is stifling the team more than anything, its like under Di Matteo were we are continuously looking to play through the centre as if its the only option and it cannot be done every match 38 times a season, teams defend and congest the middle of the pitch more than anything these days.... Conte's 343 system should have taught us the value of width, even if its having Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso providing it, they were always so wide it stretches teams and created spaces for the likes of Eden, Pedro, Willian infield. There are other variables but Alonso is not a direct fault for Eden, they get in each others way at times though and I've always felt theres too much instance from Eden and Willian particularly to come inside at times to pass to each other when there are better/other options.

Even Sarri's Napoli, like Peps Bayern and City team, had the full backs play more centrally, to create overloads and combination plays. The key is having good variation. Which we don't have, although this Alonso plays almost as a 10 or striker talk is bullshit, on average he is the widest player in the team in terms of position. 

[kellzfresh 7,229]

7 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Eden is not being stifled because of Alonso, that is a lame excuse, if a left back can see those runs and make them then why can't a world class player like Eden do it? Its not rocket science to run in between the full back and center back or between the centre backs in more central areas is it? Eden like Willian too, comes to the ball far too much, particularly in deeper areas of the pitch (an issue Sarri has mentioned he should be wanting to get much more involved in the final third) he should be looking to get beyond and finish off moves, this has always been why people will question whether or not he will score more than 20 or 30 goals a season. Pedro is a great example I think, somebody who is not as gifted technically but will always bundle goals in somehow because hes selfless and will run off the back of teams even if he doesn't get it 99 out of 100 times because he knows eventually he will get it. Fair enough hes not going to score 30 goals a season but he will get 10+ this season in the PL, which for a player who isn't exactly at the level he was years ago or particularly blessed with anything that sticks out like Eden is with regards to dribbling, key passes etc is impressive. 

A lack of width is stifling the team more than anything, its like under Di Matteo were we are continuously looking to play through the centre as if its the only option and it cannot be done every match 38 times a season, teams defend and congest the middle of the pitch more than anything these days.... Conte's 343 system should have taught us the value of width, even if its having Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso providing it, they were always so wide it stretches teams and created spaces for the likes of Eden, Pedro, Willian infield. There are other variables but Alonso is not a direct fault for Eden, they get in each others way at times though and I've always felt theres too much instance from Eden and Willian particularly to come inside at times to pass to each other when there are better/other options.

Even Sarri's Napoli, like Peps Bayern and City team, had the full backs play more centrally, to create overloads and combination plays. The key is having good variation. Which we don't have, although this Alonso plays almost as a 10 or striker talk is bullshit, on average he is the widest player in the team in terms of position. 

Pep has walker or Lahm play narrow because he has Sterling/Sane stay wide and high in attack. But on the left wing, Hazard likes to come inside, so unless we want to change our best players game-play by telling him to stay wide only, then Alonso has to stop running into the box every second and make wider runs to get into crossing/cutback positions. There must be width on each side of the pitch to ease the mid-block everyone is using against Jorginho. 

I admit Hazard can do better, but trust me Hazard will prefer to play with an Ashley cole 11 times out of 10 over Alonso. A selfless fullback making runs off the ball, putting in dangerous crosses and beating his marker 1 on 1 is what Alonso is not. I hate this feeling I get from matches where the opponent is marking everyone else and leaving Alonso free, and once we switch the ball to a free Alonso, he is too slow to take advantage of the space and they cover him immediately. (Hes looking like the last year of Ivanovic in all honesty)