Chelsea coach Xabi Alonso admitted that “everything was disappointing” after his side’s 3-0 loss to Brentford tonight.
Chelsea could have been the better team in the first half but surrendered when Jadon Anthony put the home team ahead from a corner kick on the hour mark.
Igor Thiago scored his first goal of the season late on to make it 2-0 and Fabio Carvalho scored a third in stoppage time to complete a horror night for Alonso at the Gtech Community Stadium.
He told BBC Match of the Day: “Everything was disappointing, especially the result, but we can do better. We have to do better. For 45 minutes we were competing well, but in the second half we fell behind, and conceded the three goals. You have to be very focused, and once you concede from set-pieces, that gives them an advantage and control because once we concede the second goal, it becomes more difficult and we lost a little bit of our discipline when we were close to the area.” Punishment. We have to correct our mistakes.”
Chelsea did little going forward while also looking weak defensively.
Former Real Madrid coach Alonso said: “In the first half, we were around the penalty area, but we did not create big chances.” “We missed the last pass, the last dribble to shoot in clear positions, but that’s one part. The other part is when you need to hold on, when you need to be composed, (the opponent) is trying to attack you and you need to know how to defend and stick together. Win duels and be consistent in that part.”
Lack of spark going forward and defensive weakness – Chelsea’s problems emerged
Alonso said: “Everything but certainly the individual and collective details must be better, but it is not just defensive. With the ball there are parts we need to do better.”
Set pieces remain a big problem for Chelsea, and England international Levi Colwell admitted they have to improve in this area for the club to move forward.
He told Sky Sports: “We weren’t good enough. Sometimes we were harassed inside the box, we definitely need to improve on that. We’ve all put trust in our set-piece coach and we’re still adapting to new things. We need to improve as a team.”
“I don’t think our spirit dropped. It was painful and we tried to push for an equalizer and were counter-attacked. I don’t think our spirit dropped.
“We still need to improve a lot. We can’t rely on the attacking three to get us out of the danger zone. The rest of us have to help as much as we can. We definitely have a lot of room for improvement.”
In-form Brentford are enjoying the taste of victory
While it was a dismal night for Chelsea, it was a night of celebration for Brentford, who wowed their fans after the final whistle.
Chairman Keith Andrews said: “I felt like there was something flowing towards tonight, and I have this unbelievable calm around our team because I trust them. I see a humility and a hunger within the group and we can challenge each other.
“We have to keep improving in this league. Teams spend money on players but it’s only on paper. What we do every day in training is to push the limits, be open with each other and continue on this journey and I love the journey.”
The win moved Brentford up to third place heading into the rest of the weekend’s matches.
