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Morning all,

Welcome to the weekend and welcome to Halloween!! I hope you all have a good one whatever you are getting up to, and those with kids, have fun with your pumpkins and if you’re going trick or treating! I do love this time of the year!

Chelsea play Manchester United on Halloween, and we really need to make sure we are the strongest monster on the night. This game is HUGE now, I really feel that. I think a lot of the fan base are starting to place themselves on the edge and could soon lose faith in Xabi Alonso (which is bizarre to me but I respect all opinions). This game has become so important for him. 12.30pm kick off at Stamford Bridge!

On the above subject, I wrote an article on all that and my thoughts on Alonso and the situation here.

And so did SPTC contributor The Score! Check out his views on it all here.

And for you guys to give your views on Alonso and also, the Liverpool defeat from mid-week, I have some polls here. I’m very keen to see the responses to these questions, so I’m asking every one of you to jump on these polls please!

And speaking of the Liverpool game, what on earth has happened with Alonso and Estevao? Really feels like there is something underlining going on there. Alonso was asked about that and the Liverpool performance, in which he has responded here.

As always, round up all your latest Chelsea news from across the last 24 hours in the same place here. This covers all you need to know!

Have a good weekend all, and Happy Halloween!! I’ll be back on the site on Sunday. You can follow and cover the game on the Substack App in the chat section there, where you can join the rest of the SPTC community in-game.

Peace, Si.

As always, I like to come here first, to the SPTC Community, when I want to see what the general fan base stance is on something. I find this community the most measured and balanced overall, and I r…

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I know there are still many Chelsea fans out there fully behind and backing Xabi Alonso. And in my opinion, that’s how it should be right now after just 8 league games played. But at the same time, h…

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I was going wait till after the Man Utd game to write this, but decided to do it now. Because what I’m gonna say is true regardless of what happens against Manchester United, or even Sunderland after it. Even if we lose both games, what I’m saying in this article will still apply. Because I’m increasingly frustrated and bored of the absolute pathetic, entitled, reactionary nonsense I’m seeing on social media regarding our manager, Xabi Alonso. Honestly, some of the stuff I’m seeing on socials makes me ashamed and embarrassed to be a Chelsea fan.

I’ve written plenty of articles explaining why we need stability with an elite manager to get Chelsea where we belong. I’m not gonna make those arguments again, they are all still true.

Overall we’ve been inconsistent this year so far. In 90 mins, we’ve played 11, won 6, drawn 2 and lost 3. We’re 5th in the Premier League as of Wednesday 28th Oct, after 8 PL games.

But I think a reminder is needed of where Xabi Alonso came into Chelsea. Between Feb 1st 2026 and the end of the PL season, we played 14 PL games (a third of a PL season almost), and got 12 points. We were 18th in the PL form table for four months. If you take our February and go from March, it looks even worse. We played 11 PL games, lost 8 of them, and got just 7 points, which put us 19th in the form table.

If you took our Feb-May form over a full PL season we’d have got 32 points, and been relegated in 18th place. If you take our March-May form over a season, we’d have finished second bottom with 25 points.

This was over 3-4 months remember, not just a few weeks. Our form from Jan 1st to the end of the season - 19 games, half the PL season, was 15th in the PL form table with 22 points from 19 games, 44 points over a season, which would have seen us finish 16th last season.

Whatever way you look at it, we were basically in lower table / relegation form for half a season. With toxic players, low confidence, bad on pitch habits, a divided dressing room, players who wanted out, poor coaching and awful mentality. Probably our lowest point as a club for nearly 30 years.

And THIS is what Xabi Alonso came in to.

When Xabi Alonso took over at Bayer Leverkusen they were 17th in the Bundesliga after 9 games of the 22/23 season. Now coming into that was bad enough, the situation at Chelsea was arguably worse. 10th place last season flattered us in all honesty.

Xabi didn’t just have to improve the coaching and tactics, and the squad, like most new managers. His job was far more comprehensive and deep rooted.

He had to change the culture at the club, the mentality, get the players out of bad habits, build their confidence, help them deal with the physical side of the game and stop being bullied and help them overcome setbacks in games and with bad results.

He basically had to rebuild the whole men’s football side himself, almost from scratch.

Its a similar job to what Mikel Arteta had to do at Arsenal when he joined in 2019. They’d got into a mentality of underachievement, with toxic players, and a poor culture. It took Arteta literally years to rebuild that, but now Arsenal are PL champions and Champions League finalists, who challenge for the league every year. If they’d given up on him only 4 months in, that would never have happened. Jurgen Klopp had to do something similar at Liverpool, it took him 3 years. Like Alonso, both elite coaches - Jurgen had already proven to be so - and both given time.

Xabi been in the job only 4 months and 11 games. This is not, to him, a short term project, and frankly there’s no way anyone can completely transform the club that quickly given how bad things were. If people think a manager is coming in and making us a title challenging side overnight, or not going to have struggles and challenges, they’re living in cloud cuckoo land.

Xabi has got a long term vision for this Chelsea side. He’s even said in interviews, it would be foolish to expect us to be challenging for the league now, and we’ll be better as the season goes on and in future seasons. It’s also clear to me, the ownership and directors are fully backing him in this approach and for the long term. We’ve seen this in the summer market, and their work to get Alex Scott, a big Xabi Alonso target, in the door in early January.

My analysis of our two recent games is that Xabi Alonso is trying to improve our defending as a team. We’ve seen how strong our attack can be but our defending needed work. Against Spurs, outside the own goal Spurs only had 3 shots on target despite all their possession. Liverpool, outside the dumb penalty caused by Wes Fofana, only had 3 shots on target. They didn’t look too dangerous other than the odd moment. If we’d been more clinical we could have won the game. I think had Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer been on the pitch, we would have.

We didn’t look in too much danger of conceding in either game, the goals were individual errors, not tactically related. We also largely defended the chances we gave up well. If Xabi can get the balance right between our strong attack and defence, we will become a difficult side to beat and win more than we don’t win. Alex Scott is a key player to implementing this effectively, as he is a box to box player, with tons of energy and physicality, who can cover a lot of ground, can defend and also add to the attack.

Xabi seems to be prioritising building a healthy, working long term tactical structure over immediate results. Obviously he still wants to win, but he looks like a manager who knows he will be given time by the owners and directors, and isn’t under pressure to deliver instant title winning success. Our squad, especially if we add Alex Scott, is good enough to finish in the top 4 this season and to win the FA Cup. I’m very confident of finishing top 4 and I think we’ll be in a stronger position come January to go for the cup. Bottom line, Xabi Alonso is a top coach and we will improve as time goes on, and grow in consistency.

I’ll say it right, now, Xabi Alonso needs to be given at least 2-3 years to build something at Chelsea. Even if we finish 6th this season, he should still be allowed to stay and keep building. Even if we lose our next two games before the international break, he should keep his job.

Because what’s the alternative? Start again with a manager who probably isn’t as good and be held back yet another year? People say Cesc Fabregas, but what happens when he loses some games in the same way Xabi has? No. The whole thing is absurd. It’s self sabotage almost. Xabi Alonso is an elite manager, and his record has earned him time and patience.

Ironically his start at Leverkusen was similar to his one at Chelsea. In his first 12 games at Leverkusen he won 5, lost 5 and drew 2. After 11 games at Chelsea he has won 6, drew 2 and lost 3 (or drew 1 and lost 4 if you count the cup game as a defeat). He took them from 17th to 6th in his first season (when he came in 9 games in). He’s actually made a marginally better start at Chelsea than he did at Leverkusen.

Sadly I’m already seeing the first signs of people doubting Xabi Alonso and questioning his ability as a manager. I’ve actually seen people seriously say Liam Rosenior is a better manager or they preferred him to Xabi. Liam Rosenior, the guy who had us in relegation form last season, the worst Chelsea manager of most of our lifetimes. Its just laughable and embarrassing. In fact, its a disgrace.

Honestly, I can’t be bothered wasting my time with all that nonsense and the “fans” who say it. Absolute waste of space for me, I have no respect for those kind of “fans”.

Xabi’s track record speaks for itself. An unbeaten domestic season in Germany, winning the domestic double, and reaching a European final, all with a club not Bayern Munich and a limited budget. Following this up with 2nd place and a German Supercup. 61% win percentage at Leverkusen, 71% at Real Madrid. Beaten the likes of Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Inter and other big teams as a coach. Won it all as a player and won major titles as a manager.

As I said earlier, the job he has at Chelsea is huge. It’s a gargantuan task to turn this club around, rebuild it from where we were in May, and take us back to the top. It will take years, and there will be ups and downs along the way.

That’s part of what is necessary to get back to the top, and you could put Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp or anyone in charge, they would face the same challenges, they would make mistakes, and they’d lose some games along the way. If we get rid of Xabi at any point in the next 2-3 years (barring 3-4 months of literal relegation form), we’re just finished as a serious football club to me. If that happened I couldn’t take us seriously anymore.

Make no mistake, if we keep on sacking managers we will end up in the mess Manchester United are in, mid table or worse and never challenging. We’ll also have wasted an elite manager who WILL be successful at other clubs if we forced him out.

Fans need to wise up to this soon. Right now it really is beginning to look like no matter what a manager’s previous track record, no manager will ever be given proper time with fans. We turned on Frank Lampard and Chelsea fans posted “Fatpard” pictures back in 2020, so employing a club legend won’t make a difference either. This is going to fatally damage us as an elite level club if we’re not careful.

At some point, Chelsea fans have to suck it up, and go through some tough times with a manager, and let him make mistakes and build success over time. Its the only pathway back to the top. There’s no quick fix or easy or alternative path back to being a title challenging club. None.

If we can’t do that, I don’t want to hear anyone complaining about us not challenging for PL titles or CL titles. Because constantly changing managers or turning on them after 8 games only leads to mediocrity. And I don’t want to hear “we just need the right manager to give patience to”, as given Xabi is an elite coach and has earned time, the fact people are turning on him already proves that argument is complete bullshit. These people just want a manager who’ll never lose a game or go on a bad run of form, which is impossible.

The hard fact is there’ll be down days, bad results and performances, on the way back to success. That’s where we are. But Xabi Alonso is worth pushing through that with, because he’s an elite coach and a winner - and if we let him, he will take us back to the top.

If we don’t learn that and back him, or at least one elite manager, you can forget Chelsea being a serious football club for a long time. And it’ll be exactly what we deserve.

The Score

Have a great weekend all and Happy Halloween! See you back on the site on Sunday to reflect on the next BIG game!

17.18pm - Townsend on Fofana

Andy Townsend said on Wesley Fofa…

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Every word Xabi Alonso said in his post-match press conference for the Liverpool loss.

How do you reflect on the evening?

Well, for sure the outcome is not what we wanted. It’s not what we expected bef…

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Morning all!

Chelsea were in League Cup action last night against Liverpool away from home. The second half performance was better, first half was very bland. But there wasn’t much in it between the two teams come the end and it had to be cruelly decided by penalties.

I have my reactions, report, and player ratings here.

Before the game though, I had the usual set of articles out for you all to feast on, including this big sourced transfer article on Chelsea monitoring a certain England international! You can get the full drop on what is going on there in here.

I rounded up Xabi Alonso’s embargoed quotes from the press conference earlier this week, including more on Joao Pedro’s injury and when we can expect to see him back playing for Chelsea. You can peep all that here.

There was also some fresh links between Antonio Rudiger and Chelsea! Rudiger back to The Bridge anyone? Find out the story on that here as well as vote your opinion on whether you want to see him back at the club!

As there was no Live Blog yesterday, I did round up all the general Chelsea news from across the day here. This covers all you need to know.

See you all on the next Live Blog from around 8.45am today on the home page! Drop your comments in this one on the game last night, I’ll be intrigued to hear the reactions as always.

Peace, Si.

Report and reactions

Well, I genuinely fell asleep in the first half it was that much of a borefest. The second half was much better, but probably a little to end to end. Neither side I thought were a…

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We’re back home after an incredible day riding Thomas the Tank Engine! I’m absolutely shattered now though and have no idea how I’m going to stay awake for the game and then write a repor…

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Chelsea could make a move to offer Antonio Rudiger a sensational return to Stamford Bridge as he allegedly prepares to leave Real Madrid.

The 33-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season, a…

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Last week, you may have remembered us putting out an original report on this subject about some tentative interest Chelsea had in a certain player.

Well, now my top source has messaged me yesterday out of the blue to basically confirm this info.

More details below..

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Chelsea face being without Joao Pedro until AFTER the next international break, which finishes on November the 17th.

Xabi Alonso has confirmed this is ‘probably’ the case in his embargoed quotes from…

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Morning all,

It’s the big one this evening - the fourth round of the FA Cup away at Liverpool! A chance of getting closer to wining some silverware, but how will both teams approach this one? Much rotation? Liverpool got many injuries? Find out all of that here.

You can get more Chelsea team news after Xabi Alonso’s press conference and quotes on that in here on yesterday’s Live Blog. This covers all your latest general Chelsea news as well.

Alonso has been under fire this week from some Chelsea fans (not all of them of course). What can we expect from Alonso’s Chelsea moving forward though? It took him time to change the style of play at Bayer Leverkusen but he got there - can he do it at Chelsea and what is the plan? Also in this sourced article here, how both Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho made themselves available for a Chelsea return recently!

Someone has also been talking some sense on Alonso here. Former Scout Mick Brown makes some very good points in this one. Refreshing to read.

Away from Chelsea, as an England fan, I was very happy for Harry Kane to win Ballon d’Or earlier this week. It’s much deserved, and it’s just nice to see a humble footballer win the award rather than one with a massive ego or a ‘stan’ favourite. Words here.

There will be NO Live Blog today I’m afraid. It’s half term and I’m taking my boy to go on Thomas The Tank Engine - we’re both buzzing! So no laptop and no time to do updates today. I will do a Blues News Report round up like I do on Sunday’s, later this evening ahead of the big game tonight! I will also obviously be covering the game too on the website.

Peace, Si.

Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso is the first manager to come in to the club for a very long time and get handed the keys to basically have the freedom to build what he wants to build.

Alonso was given th…

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Chelsea go to Anfield in the fourth round of the League Cup this Wednesday evening, and fans of both teams will be wondering and guessing around how much rotation we could end up seeing.

Xabi Alonso w…

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Chelsea’s ownership under Blueco have a clear desire to mostly be a possessional-based footballing team. It is something that they have always all agreed on and wanted.

There is nothing at all to suggest that they want to play as a counter-attacking team, despite how Chelsea have started this season under Xabi Alonso.

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I wrote an article some weeks back now saying that Harry Kane should win the Ballon d’Or and deserves to win it over any other player. Last night, it was confirmed that he has won it for this year, a…

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I wont be running a Live Blog tomorrow unfortunately. It’s half term and I am taking my boy to go on a Thomas train. So I wont have my laptop or time to write any updates. I’…

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Morning all,

Hope you’ve had a decent start to your week.

Two games for Chelsea this week. We have Liverpool on Wednesday in the League Cup fourth round, then Manchester United on Saturday in the Premier League. I had some thoughts out ahead of both of those games here.

Round up all your latest general Chelsea news from across the last 24 hours in the same place here, covering all you need to know.

I still have the Spurs defeat on my mind, I’d like to shake it, but it was so bad it’s just stuck there for now. I watched a highlights reel that I want to forget but can’t. I can’t unsee this here. What on earth were we doing!?

Levi Colwill was filmed getting annoyed with a Chelsea fan who was having a go at him for guess what? Clapping then fans!? Some people have reacted to this here, but I wanted to give my view, and then get yours. Check this one!

A transfer rumour to finish things off now. Chelsea have been scouting a new striker this week, and he’s pretty damn good I must say! News on Nicolo Tresoldi to Chelsea here.

See you all on the next Live Blog from around 8.45am today on the home page!

Peace, Si.