Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso shared his reaction at the final whistle at Stamford Bridge and it was one of delight and relief after their enthralling 4-3 win against Brighton.
The Spanish coach has created a very entertaining team to watch. At both ends of the pitch.
Alonso watched his Chelsea side surge into a 3-0 lead and they could have score more.
But they let Brighton back into the game as the score was 3-2 before Cole Palmer’s goal made it 4-2. Even then Brighton made it 4-3 in stoppage time through Pascal Gross but Chelsea held on to win.
Aside from being concerned with giving up far too many chances defensively, Alonso also looked worried as Moises Caicedo came off the bench but was then forced off through injury.
Here’s the latest Xabi Alonso reaction from Stamford Bridge, as Chelsea’s new manager has two wins from two in the Premier League and his team has scored seven goals but they’ve also let in five.
Xabi Alonso reaction
On how much he enjoyed the win: “The most important is the feeling of the victory. That you enjoy it,” Alonso told Sky Sports. “But so many things happened in the game. We had a great, great start. We got the 3-0 lead playing really well. Being a threat. And after we were not able to keep the ball enough. We were playing a little bit the result, the context of the result was a little bit of a consequence of what was happening on the pitch. It is good that we do whatever it takes to win. This is what we want at the end. This is a process and we will keep working, keep learning. But it feels great two games, two wins and we need to keep going.”
On how impressed he was with the forward play, movement and the early goals: “I am not excited. I am focused and thinking about the things that we have to do in the game with a 3-0. We played with the context of the result so we wanted to keep playing the game. We conceded 3-1 and when you go to half time with a half time lead you need to be aware and second half we could have scored another clear chance from Cole [Palmer] as well. Anyway we analyze but now it is time to enjoy a little bit.”
On if it’s a mental or tactical thing Chelsea need to focus on moving forward: “It is everything and it is part of the things we need to experience and to learn from them. For sure. It is still early days for this team that is coming together, the pieces are coming together with good energy and good attitude and I have to say ‘top start guys, but we have to keep going.’ And at the end they fought and showed a great team spirit but for me this togetherness and the fans behind us in the tough moments, to build that is almost as important as to build the football ideas.”
On Emiliano Martinez coming in and how it helps towards that aim of getting a clean sheet in the Premier League: “We will, for sure. We want to win but for sure if we have more clean sheets we will win more games. And with Emi we have a top personality, top ‘keeper and that will help with all of the development of the team.”
On how excited Chelsea fans can get: “I am happy that I felt a very positive energy in the stadium. All around the club, all around the mood and the atmosphere we have around. It is positive. We need to keep that even when the results are not that good. Because this is going to happen. There will be bumps in the road. But to have faith and belief in what we are doing, we have taken many right decisions and I’m very happy. From Tuesday we start preparing the next one. We need to go game by game. But today they can enjoy it.”
On the transfer window: “The most important is that we do everything thinking the best for the team. Other things we will see but whatever happens we will be happy to have the squad we have.”
On the injury to Moises Caicedo: “He was cautious, to stop, to say he was not feeling the best. We will assess during the week. It was not something new.”
Emiliano Martinez reaction
“I know how big this club is and what we want to achieve this season. I came here to help. I had an amazing seven years with Aston Villa. I come here to challenge myself and try to win the Premier League,” Martinez tells Sky Sports.
“Obviously I trained only one day with the team. I know the talent that we have up front. I try to bring that solidity at the back. A win is a win. I know it wasn’t a perfect game. We were 3-0 up. We could have put the game to bed. But at the end winning and moving on is what we need. We’ve got 36 games left and it is just one week after the other.”
On his celebrations after making saves and how important the connection with fans will be to help Chelsea keep clean sheets: “I need it. I need it for myself and for the team. It is my first game here, only trained one day, but the guys treated me really well and I tried to bring my spirit and help the team to get wins.”
On the potential to win trophies at Chelsea: “I came here for a reason. I knew the front three is amazing. They are different. You can see today when we go forward we hurt teams. We had a lot of chances. That is what we need. Keep improving, keep scoring goals and at the back just bring goals down.”
