Chelsea’s defensive struggles worry Alonso

Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso has expressed his frustration at the Blues’ defensive problems this season.

The London giants dropped points for the second game in a row on Saturday as they drew 2-2 with Hull City in Saturday’s league tie at Stamford Bridge.

Morgan Rogers opened the scoring in the 7th minute with an assist from João Pedro after a counterattack, ending Hull’s clean sheet start to the season.

Hull then scored twice in six minutes (minutes 28, 34) thanks to a double from Mohamed Belloumi, the first after Jorrel Hato misjudged a rebounding cross from Ryan Giles (after a long ball and poor play by Malo Gusto).

Then the second, after Emiliano Martínez missed a corner, with a header from Semi Ajayi that hit the crossbar and Belloumi took advantage of the rebound that went wide.

Brazilian striker João Pedro tied Chelsea in the 66th minute, finishing off a low cross from Cole Palmer.

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Chelsea have now gone 20 Premier League games without a clean sheet and have conceded nine goals in four league games this season (also multiple goals in every game so far).

The attack (particularly the Rogers-Palmer-Pedro combination) continues to produce, with the trio collaborating for both goals and contributing heavily early in the campaign, but midfield control and defensive concentration remain issues.

Speaking after the disappointing draw, Alonso said in his post-match analysis: “It may be entertaining, but I hope one day they will say it’s a boring game and we win. It’s a kind of repetition of some patterns we are doing. It will take time to fix them. When we take the lead, we still need to compete and not miss opportunities so easily.”

“We’re talking, we’ll address, we’ll get better, but that’s having an impact on our game right now.”

“We need to be aware that any situation, any team in the Premier League can hurt you. It was a long ball, two rebounds, the way it happened. Danger can come from any situation. If you are soft, if you don’t prepare, you will be punished.”