Marcos Alonso seems to be a man on a mission these days.
Expected by many to be dropped due to Sarri-ball’s lack of a wing-back, all he’s done is score one goal, create another, and win two penalties through the first three matches of the Premier League season. He could’ve addded a second goal to that tally on Sunday, but his winning goal is likely to go down as a DeAndre Yedlin own goal instead. No matter, for the team, they’re all the same.
“Whether they give it to me or as an own-goal, I am very happy for the three points and I am looking forward to the next one now.”
And yes, it was a penalty.
“It was a penalty, 100 per cent. I am not a player that goes down easily and if I go down, it is because it was a penalty and it was good that Hazard put it in.”
Newcastle set out to defend, frustrate, and block off final third access and Chelsea struggled to break them down. Part of that was down to the hosts’ defensive organization and commitment (one would expect nothing less from a Benitez-coached team); part of that was due to Chelsea’s own growing pains with the new system.
It’s going to take time for us to learn all the intricacies of the setup. Alonso himself is having to re-learn playing full back — Newcastle didn’t test him much, but Arsenal certainly did — and he admits there is plenty of room for improvement. We must be patient in this regard; though the wins are making that a bit easier than it would be otherwise.
Next up: Bournemouth on Saturday. Another three points would be lovely.
“It is not always fun for us to play like this but I don’t know if other teams want play like this [how Newcastle did], we can only have patience and play our football and try to find the space to score.”
“There is still room for improvement but the team is looking good and we are doing a good job so far and hopefully we will have more three points next week.”
-Marcos Alonso; source: Chelsea FC
So say we all.