The Xabi Alonso Debate.

What's happening, everyone?The news is in.Chelsea have appointed Xavi Alonso.I am over the moon at this appointment.I think that it could be a reset for the club, a reset that the club so desperately need.Helping me dissect exactly what this means, it's the wonderful Matisse.

Matisse, as always, an honour to have you on the channel, mate.

Pleasure.Thank you, man, for having me on.It was only a couple of days ago very skeptical about this happening.So the fact that it actually happened is shocking in a great way.

I know, it is.But do you know what, Matisse?Obviously, the clips go around on social media, and I've certainly was saying that we won't get him.The reason why I said we wouldn't get him is because of the way that we conduct our business.I feel like what might be happening here, and I hope I'm correct, is that the club have acknowledged that they've made a pig's ear of it since they've been in.They've appointed him as manager which I think the wording is so important.

He's not a head coach, he is a manager.And there's no way that he would have come under the previous settings.But these new settings could mean a different direction from Bluco.

Hopefully, I mean, obviously, action will always speak louder than words, but it wasn't, you know, just us that was sceptical.You look at Jamie Carragher, you look at Joe Cole, you know, these guys weren't confident even.And I think everybody had a right to be sceptical because, you know, They've shown with their appointments previously that there usually would be a little link to a Man City or there would be a link to a Strasbourg, you know, that's all bright.And they've kind of gone down that route quite a few times.They haven't gone for an ex -Real Madrid manager or a treble winner or a World Cup winner.You know, this is not their realm that they usually hang around in, because usually that type of character demands control, power, say so, and obviously has a reputation that they're trying to keep intact, not a reputation trying to build up from the ground.

Xabi Alonso has already accomplished things, you know, so it's a risk for him, but I'm glad he's taking the risk and hopefully that, you know, the terms, they're not just hearsay, they're actually going to be implemented.

Yeah, I genuinely believe that it's such a coup to get him in.It's such a coup.He's one of the most sought after managers in world football.I think now the fact that we've gone out and got him in, it indicates that there is going to be a shift in direction.It indicates that there is going to be a change of strategy.And if there is, if they're ready to put the money in that they've already put in, but put it in in a more precise way with regard to the football team.

I think for the first time, first time in a long time, I have some genuine optimism about the direction of the club.

If they can't do it for this guy, when will they?Do you know what I mean?This is it now.We've gone above and beyond.We've got the best possible appointment from a CV standpoint we could possibly get.I don't know where the money's going to come from, but they better find it.

That's what I was saying yesterday to my friends.They better find the money because this guy's going to need backing.He's going to need that team tweaked quite heavily in some areas and other areas will be fine.I am.It's really difficult to leave an FA Cup final and somehow have any glimpse of hope.Be optimistic.

Afterwards, it was such a strange day.I remember saying to you, I was like, I'm gutted about this final loss.I mean, it's obviously seventh in a row.We both was at the game.And we lost on such fine margins in terms of Man City, they weren't at their best or they weren't brilliant either.It was just a moment, the refereeing decisions were going against us to leave that day and have some shining light at the end of it.

Of course, the timing is very cheeky from Chelsea as always, you know what I mean?But at least it wasn't PR in the sense of, you know, nothing agreed, nothing official.It was actually a done deal.So if you're going to give us PR like that, please bring in Yamal after a defeat.

Do you think that they've...that venture capitalist billionaires aren't known for this, but do you think that they've been a period of self -reflection from them?Do you think they've looked at What's happened at the club since they took it over?They took over a club that were champions of Europe.We also won the Super Cup and the Club World Cup.And little by little, the erosion of who we are supposed to be has got greater and greater.

And we have effectively under their watch gone from Tuchel to Rossignol, from Tuchel to McFarlane.Do you think there's been a quiet period of self -reflection where they have realized that they have drastically got it so wrong?And this is the reset button.

I think there's been a reflection on the manager standpoint because the senior hire was so diabolical.It was so bad in regards to the results.They had to reflect on that because look where we sit in the table.They would never have thought that they would have dropped off from European places the way we have.Has there been a reflection on other parts in terms of hopefully the coaching staff and the pedigree and quality that we need in those areas behind a manager?I referenced Steve Holland at Carrick, you know, there's obviously others.

Have they reflected on The business side of the club, the run -ins of the club, the recruitment, they say they have in the reports with the players that they want to bring in experienced players, two or three.Again, actions will always speak louder than words.They could have been more drastic in terms of showing real change.I think the directors could have gone.I've been advocating for them to be sacked before.turned Blue Coat out at the start of the year.

I wanted all the directors sacked really after Pochettino.I think they've squandered and wasted a heck of a lot of money.That would have been serious change if they were gone to show that the recruitment was also going to change in line with that in the summer.But yeah, it's a small...

This is a really weird video.This is the weirdest video that you and I have ever done.Do you know why?Because I feel like we've almost switched roles.I feel like I'm less sceptical than you.I don't know if I'm just easily won over.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.I'm more optimistic than you here, aren't I?I think, yeah, maybe.But I think because they've broken my trust, I think, at so many levels, they have to almost repair every single level now, because...What I wouldn't want this to be is for them to think that this is the creme de la creme.You've brought in Javi Alonso, but you're still going to act the same way in the summer.

You're still not going to kind of...Approach that window as seriously as we have to I remember the window where we got Costa Fabregas and Felipe Luis and Couture That's the level of window that these lot need to bring in.I don't want any compromise I don't want them to I'll just get a six and a half or seven out of ten I want to I want a nine out of ten is what I think the club deserve I think it's what the fans deserve after leaving that FA Cup final With with nothing and a season with nothing.We're still ninth.You know, I mean like I Yeah, for me, there's still going to be some... the handbrake's still going to be on.

Matisse, this is where we differ.I don't think, and I've been wrong before, but I don't think that you can bring in a man with the stature and aura of Jaby Alonso, a man that was recently at Real Madrid and did very well at Real Madrid, by the way.If you look at his win ratio, it's... compelling, I don't think that you can bring in a man like that and then not promise to bring in new signings, and not just new signings, by the way.I don't even think it's just about the quality of the player.It's actually, for this dressing room, about the quality of the person.We need some standards in that dressing room.

You know all this, mocking the manager in previous eras?Whatever you think of Graham Potter, his players shouldn't be calling him Harry Potter.Whatever you and I thought of Liam Rossini are, it's appalling that the players are calling him a substitute teacher.That culture needs to change.So I don't think Xavi Alonso comes anywhere near the Chelsea job without assurances that he can bring in good players, good people, change the standards, change the direction and rocket Chelsea up the league.But this is weird because you're now making me feel like I've just been I've totally bought into the PR and I'm the idiot.

Do you know what it is with me with the culture?The culture still starts from the top.So he could definitely make changes.I agree at the managerial level, but they need to change their expectations at the top.I heard something in a report that they were saying are in within three years, we're going to challenge.What are you talking about, three years?

Why are you not trying to challenge next season?Seriously, if you've got one game a week and you've got two cup competitions to negotiate, why are you not trying to challenge this season coming?

We're meant to be trying to challenge last season.No, you're right.Do you know why you're especially right?Gone are the days of, you know when there was almost a monopoly or at least a duopoly on the Premier League title?Like at one point, if Arsene Wenger didn't win it, Sir Alex Ferguson did.At another point, if Jose Mourinho didn't win it, Sir Alex Ferguson did.

Klopp, Guardiola.Next season, like, Mikel Arteta, if he does win the league this year, I think you have to give him the courtesy of saying, favourites for the league.They're champions, you give a respect to champions.But after that, Carrick, Manchester United, Slot, Liverpool, Arteta himself, Arsenal, I think Xavi Alonso, with a point to prove off the back of what happened at Real Madrid, I think Xavi Alonso will be looking at the title going, he would believe, he's very good friends with Mikel Arteta, right, they grew up in San Sebastian, they're proper mates.I think when they were both living in Liverpool, Everton, Liverpool, I think they were like best mates, lived next door to each other, they're proper friends.But I think Xavi Alonso would

think that he can manage to a better level than Arteta.I think Xavi Alonso would think that he's a better manager than Carrick.On some definition, if Guardiola leaves Enzo Maresca at Chelsea, on some definition, Enzo Maresca at City, we can have the best manager in the league on some definition.At least he's right up there.

Yeah, from a CB standpoint, he's top of everyone there involved and he's hanging with them.And we all know what a massive advantage one game a week looks like.Look at Manchester United, they're sitting in third, thinking their lives have completely changed.Little do they know the schedule of hell is coming at their doorstep next season when they've got an extended Champions League format.And again, it sounds crazy maybe, and it sounds unrealistic for me even to utter the words challenge for the Premier League title next season.But that is the kind of message that I want the top end to be putting out.

If you're going to be putting out these reports, putting out these briefings, putting out these quotes, I want you to speak how we want to achieve.I want you to kind of put that energy out into the room of the dressing room and say, next season, the aim is to challenge for the league.If we fall short, at least you had the ambition with the signings, met with the manager, combined to go for it.And then if we don't make it, at least we know where everybody's heads are at.But when you say three years just to challenge, I remember when Jesus and Zenchenko rocked up for fifth place Arsenal and put them straight in the pecking order.Can we not do that with Caicedo, Rhys, with Enzo, with Parma, with Jao Pedro, Coquereo, Colwell.

I'm naming about eight or nine players that should be named as core players next season.Add another four or five proper starters onto that, like proper signings.You've now got a core 13, 14, and you've got no European football.It shouldn't be out of the realms of possibility that we talk like this, especially five years into a project.

But Matisse, do you know, this is so weird for me. I feel like I'm being the rational one, which basically meansWhilst I want to agree with you, this is a team.Think about the performance that we put in at, say, Brighton and Hove Alby in a way.Think of the performance that we put in at home to Nottingham Forest.We are a team that capitulate.We are a team of cowards.

Look, I agree.It won't be difficult for Alonso to kind of elevate and give it some force.And I think three years is too long.But we're so bad at the moment, like there's so many players that are just nowhere near good enough to play for Chelsea.It's not going to happen in one window, or is it?

I've told you, do you know what?I'm wrong.Let's get carried away.What do you reckon?

Three big signings and win the league.

Do you know what it is, yeah?I'm not saying win it, absolutely not, but I'm saying challenge.And by challenge, I just mean you're in the conversation in March when you've got one game a week, especially when you add, and I think four or five proper players, which is what we should be aiming for what we deserve.These lot have spent so much money.They've signed tens of players each summer, asking for five and of high quality instead of 10 of medium or low quality, I think is reasonable.And I think, you know, I think when you look at us, we were second going into the Arsenal game in early December.

We had a massive landslide, don't get me wrong.I think they downed Tools probably for the last month, potentially.Their heads are not there.But I don't think this is the level that we should be playing at.I think the truth lies somewhere in between.We're not a title challenger with this squad, but we're also not ninth or 10th.

I think we're around fourth or fifth, which means if we do add the quality that we have to add, we will not get away with not adding.Whether we do it now, we do it in three years, or however long they want to take, the quality still needs to come in.We can propel ourselves up into that position.

I just don't think and this is perhapsyour skepticism could be proved to be correct, but I either don't think it or I'm choosing not to think it, that Alonso will come in and not have those assurances.The assurances that you're fearful about, I feel like he must have them.For example, the reason that that Leverkusen team was so good was Alonso's brilliance, but the role that an experienced Granit Xhaka played Our strategy of only buying kids, it just isn't going to work for Alonso.He's never ever going to accept coming into a side where they go, right, Jamie Gittins, Mark Giew, they're your guys.He must think, hang on a minute, the success that I've had in the past has relied upon a Granit Xhaka type figure.

And there is, I mean, there is a lack of standards and a lack of metal in that Chelsea dressing room that he will know needs immediate looking at.Immediately needs to be rectified.So I think that he wouldn't have taken the job if he couldn't have a Xhaka type player, a Patrick Schick type player.We're gonna buy experienced players this window, surely.And remember, he wants to play three at the back.How do you feel about that, by the way?

Yeah, I mean to the first part of your question, I mean they said they're gonna get two or three experienced players So this is leaning into exactly what you said is what we need which is we need balanced recruitment And that's why I'm still skeptical because I need to see it to believe it, you know I need to I needed to see the appointment to believe it now I've got to see the recruitment to believe it then I've got to see the front of shirt sponsor to believe it It's just that's just how I how I'm at.I'm at with these guys now and But in terms of the three at the back, I'm not afraid of it.I think sometimes, you know, people see a three at the back and they automatically, the alarm bells go off because they just think it's going to be really negative.I think the football that we played in the first half of the season with Conte when we went on that winning run was fantastic at times.I remember the 5 -0 win against Everton.at home at Stamford Bridge.

So it all depends on the profiles in the positions.If you're going to put Augusto and a quick way out wing back, then yeah, you're probably not going to have the most fun in the world.Neither of them can dribble, neither of them can really carry the ball in terms of, you know, they're not Nuno Mendes, they're not Alphonso Davies in 2020.So if you're going to go down that route, it's going to be pretty boring.But if you go and get, I mean, even Victor Moses was a winger by trade at Wigan, and then we turned him into a wingback.And, you know, so if you get a winger, it becomes a lot more exciting.

I remember when Tuku used to try and put Pulisic and Hudson -Odoi out there.It didn't work, but, you know, he tried.I have no problem with it.I think our defense is very weak.at the moment, very flimsy.We need, if anything, the extra body there.

Rhys James in a back three, I don't mind it.Keeps him fit, keeps him fresh, looked after.But yeah, we don't have great wingers.

Yeah.No, we don't.But that can all be rectified.But then it's the tactical genius.Do you know what I watch?And maybe this is part of the reason I'm so invigorated talking to you.

I watch, and if you haven't seen it, watch it.Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen team, to go five points clear of Munich, they beat them 3 -0 at home.Mate, it was Thomas Tuchel in the opposite dugout, by the way.Tuchel by Munich manager, Alonso Leverkusen manager.Alonso wins 3 -0.Mate, it's the shift in formation.

You know, at one point, when they've got possession, they're kind of playing, I don't know, what would it be?Five up front, 3 -2 -5, something like that, right?And then as soon as they're not in possession anymore, it's like five across the middle.It's unbelievable the way that Alonso's side dismantled Tuchel's side.So I'm just thinking, if they'd gone...What you can't do in any walk of life, right, you can't buy the best and get the best, which we've got in Alonso, he's the best we could possibly get, but then not give him the utensils that he needs.

You know, like the analogies about cooking.You don't buy beautifulkitchen and then shop at wherever.It kind of rings true, doesn't it?Now you've got him, give him what he needs.

Absolutely.And that is what is going to be, hopefully, the fascinating thing about the summer is there's nowhere to hide.I know there's a World Cup, but You've got to navigate that and you've got to get things done.I think the best thing we could do is start to clear out the players we don't want as soon as possible.Don't dilly -dally around with that, because I wouldn't be surprised if we do need to sell first to buy in terms of money, because we're not going to maybe qualify for, you know, we're not going to qualify for Champions League, so we need the money to come from somewhere.But we, yeah, I really just don't want to be sitting here on deadline day with a bunch of excuses on our doorstep about this.

And fingers crossed, I kind of agree.Yeah, I kind of agree with that.But look, I just think that not only have we pulled out the best manager that we could, realistic, the realistic lens of managers that we could get, we've got elite, top drawer, best of the best.But this, he's just elite, everything about him.Remember him as a player?The aura on the touchline.

Oh, he was so good.You know that ball in, that win?That ball in to Torre, oh my God.Such a beautiful player.Like, played at Real Madrid for five years.One of the leagues we've been managed by as well.

Yeah.

I love them.Everyone.Yeah.Everyone.It's everyone.It's literally everyone, isn't it?

If you can take a little bit away from Ancelotti, Guardiola, Mourinho, Della Fuente, if you could take just a little bit of knowledge from each one of them, you're the governor.Even Benitez as well.This is what we need, man.Benitez, Mourinho.Yeah.Mate, the king's of the king's road and he is a king.

I'm over the moon.What do you reckon, Matisse?You, overall?this is going to be good, right?No, we're not.I can't go there.

Rory, it has to be.

Like, I was expecting an appointment that would be underwhelming, that I wouldn't like.I was just expecting that.The fact that wegot this guy, I'm shocked.Like, I'm genuinely shocked.I didn't say what I said a few days ago, just for no reason.

I really had no faith in us to get this done.So they had to have said something.Please don't, please, please tell me you didn't manipulate him and you meant what you said.That's all I'm saying.Cause I'm really happy with this appointment, man.This was like the best option realistically we could get.

And he is, you know, he's going to walk into that dressing room and command respect immediately.So yeah, and he's going to play great football as well.

So yeah, we can't ask for much more.Matisse, it was a joy to see you at Wembley the other day as well, mate.Great work.Matisse, by the way, to everybody still watching, Matisse smashing it up on Talk Sport the other day.Absolutely brilliant.It was a joy to be on with you, on the air with you, mate.

You're flying and I think your stuff is fantastic.Make sure that you subscribe to Matisse's channel.The link is in the description and we've also partnered on the video so you can find it there.Make sure that you subscribe.Sensational Chelsea content for your perusal.Matisse, I know you're a busy man, mate, so I'll let you go, but thank you so much for finding the time.

I'm feeling over the moon.

Thank you so much.Thank you, bro.Cheers.