Chelsea coach Xabi Alonso said there was “good energy” at the club as he tries to turn around the club’s woes, but he declined to specify what a successful first season would look like.
The Spaniard began his job on July 1 and will take command of his first competitive match in Sydney on Tuesday against Western Sydney Wanderers.
He faces a daunting task in getting Chelsea back in the running for major honors following their disappointing 10th-place finish last season and inability to qualify for Europe.
The club last won the Premier League a decade ago, under Italian manager Antonio Conte.
Alonso, who has made a number of pre-season additions, including Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa, said he liked what he has seen thus 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 footballer rose to prominence as one of Europe’s best coaches after leading Bayer Leverkusen to an undefeated German league and cup double in 2023–24.
However, he only remained in charge of Real Madrid for seven months. He was appointed last year and left the Spanish giants in January.
Alonso is known for a short passing style, and he built a 3-4-2-1 system at Leverkusen that was quite successful.
However, 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, and in our 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’s last Premier League victory, various managers have come and gone after failing to duplicate the feat, and the expectation is on Alonso to end the drought.
However, he stated that it was too early to determine what constitutes 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 be as high as possible, and for that we need to work hard. We need to develop this team with new players and with new ideas, but sometimes it takes longer and sometimes it happens quicker.
“But so far, a good feeling, good energy. The players are working hard, and that’s what we want.
