Xabi Alonso on Taking Charge at Chelsea, Unlocking Cole Palmer, and Adding Veteran Leadership: Presented by YETI 08/17/26

0:00With the Amex Gold Card, life can feel even more rewarding, wherever it takes you. Earn 5x points at prepaid hotels booked online through Amex Travel. Then, turn your trip into something unforgettable, with access to over$500 in annual value on select dining and travel purchases. The Gold Card rewards you for making the most of the experiences you live for. Learn more and apply today at AmericanExpress.com slash Explore-Gold. Terms apply. You're listening to the Men in Blazers media network, Suboptimal Radio. Cole is a special player. If we want to have a great Chelsea, we need to have a great Cole.

0:42And for that, we need to build a strong structure, stable to reach him in the right place in the right moments. Once you feel this healthy and fitness mood, then you need to have confidence. And then he will make the difference.

1:01It's a joy to welcome Mr Xabi Alante. Hello, Rog. It's great to be with you. You are here at Chelsea. You had a 34-game stay at Real Madrid, an experience. You've talked about it leaving a scar for you. Chelsea, a massive club, but it's been one with a turbulent reality for managers over the past five years. What made you believe this place, this destination right now is the place for you? Chelsea is a great, great club, big, big club, and to come here is an honour and it's a great opportunity. I think that the timings were great for the club, for myself as well. To believe in a project where I could enjoy, where I could work in the process because I think that I really believed in the squad.

1:44I believed as well that the squad could be improved. I think that we have made important and good decisions with the feeling that we are ready. We are ready to start the Premier League. You're the first leader under Chelsea's current ownership to take the title manager and not just head coach. In your own words, Shabby, how do you understand the difference? Well, to be involved in every decision related to football, but it's not just my decision. It's a common decision that we analyse, that we evaluate, that we prioritise and we try to design a plan to make it work. So far, the plan that we had, we have accomplished quite well with the feeling that we have built a good squad to compete for all the competitions that will involve Premier League and FA Cup and the Carabao Cup as well.

2:34Let's talk about the pre-season. Cole Palmer, England's most iconic ice salesman, he seemed lighter, seemed more joyous, seemed more dangerous. Last season at times looked like a struggle, a grind for him left him missing out on the World Cup. How do you understand what happened? And what's the key to getting him back to his lethal best? Is it mental or is it physical? Well, first it has to be physical because you need to feel healthy, you need to feel on your full potential, 100%, to perform. Once you feel this healthy and fitness mood, then you need to have confidence. You need to feel that the system works, you are enjoying your game, that you have your responsibilities within the game.

3:15Pat Cole is a special player. If we want to have a great Chelsea, we need to have a great Cole. and for that we need to build a strong structure, stable to reach him in the right place in the right moments and then he will make the difference. So what have you said to him? That it's an important season for everyone and for him can have a great impact in this great year that we want to have. But mainly that he feels confident to enjoy his game and for that we need to help him. So help him you have your highest profile signing this summer, Morgan Rodgers. Cole Palmer is one of his greatest friends in football.

3:54Played together, I think, from the age of 14. Celebration trademarked. You've said of him, quote, if we can get the connections right between Morgan and his teammates, there'll be a great step forward in the entire quality of our game. Can you give us a sense of how you see Morgan and Cole fitting together within your system? Yeah, I think that they fit really well. For sure, you need to have a social-affective connection, I think that they already have, but you need to have the football purpose. Both they are talented, hardworking, and they are modern in terms of, they have this unpredictable thing, but they are as well responsible for their football and for their responsibilities within the team.

4:37So when you have them, it's a great place to work with. What I visualize is something that can work really well when they play and when they connect with each other really well and with other players. Who would be the number 10? All of them. Both of them can be number 10, both of them can be number 8 or even winger. So it's not just about one position, it's about dynamism and that they understand and they connect well with each other. We have seen many times in football, you feel they know what to do. You don't have to tell them that much. They take their own decisions. We can find that those associations, when you don't have to tell them everything, they find out.

5:21So when you're watching football and you're watching a player like Cole Palmer, you're watching a player like Morgan Rodgers, you're the manager, you've trained them all week. Like when they're doing their thing, do you know what they're going to do? Because you guys have discussed it, you've trained it, these are your ideas. Or are the moments where you're prepared, these guys are magic, they're going to do the unexpected. and you're just watching also like, wow! That's for me the beauty of the game. You can train many things, but there are other things that you can train. They happen because of the talent, because spontaneously they have this talent.

5:53Coaches, we tend to try to control everything, but sometimes the games you don't control, you say, OK, let's see what happens because now it's out of my control. With the players as well, sometimes you need to let them flow and that they express themselves. themselves. How much is it percentage-wise do you control? How much of it are you watching and be like, yeah, that's shabby ball? And how much of you are like, wow, holy crap. Maybe in a few months we can talk again and I will tell you where we are. Before this summer, Chelsea's recruitment focused on youth prospects, but you've honked up this window.

6:27You brought in 35-year-old Danny Welbeck off a magnificent 14-goal season for Brighton, 36-year-old Jordan Henderson from Brentford, because in your words, he was so respected, so important for his teammates. Xabi, what was missing from the Chelsea dressing room culture that these men, with their veteran experience, with their character, can provide? Well, for me, as I said before, the potential and I really like the squad, but some things that we needed to, we could improve the analysis that me from outside and after talking with people involved in the club, with players, what they were missing.

7:04And for sure you need to have the right balance in everything. You need to have the right balance in physicality, you need to have the right balance in talent and experience, you need to have the right balance in players that they need to develop or develop players that they have this maturity. Nothing is perfect, but we have come in a moment where we see that things we have done with a good logical way in terms of football and that now we are in a good starting point for this new project. So what didn't you have when you looked at it? Can you put it into your own words? There was plenty of talent, but was missing this composure, these minutes to go through difficult moments, this experience to know how to deal when the things were not going your way.

7:55And that leadership to help the young ones. This is no secret in football. Young ones, they need support. And normally this support comes with players with more minutes and more games on their legs. One of the most fascinating new arrivals, Singular Cross Scottish set-piece coach Austin McPhee. You brought him in from Aston Villa. Under his watch, Villa had a season where they led not just the Premier League, but all five top European leagues in set-piece goals. How much time have you given up in training to Austin? His ideas are complicated. And what should Chelsea fans expect? We want to have the best possible specialists in their department.

8:35And for sure, Austin has the experience of the Premier League. For the staff, for us, it's going to be challenging to learn quick and to adapt to the Premier League as well. so that we have people around, Austin, Ben, other people that were here last year with this fresh experience from the Premier League and they know what it takes to win games and to prepare for each game. It helps a lot and we are happy that Austin is now with us. What should Chelsea fans expect from dead ball situations this season? For me, it's not to tell what to expect. It's to show and to deliver. Because words are really cheap and I can say, oh, they can expect 100 goals.

9:13but we need to perform and we need to deliver on the pitch. Show me, don't tell me. Show me, don't tell me, that's right. You talk about adapting your coaching to the Premier League. I'm an Everton fan. I've watched you destroy teams in the Premier League. You know the Premier League very well. How do you think about that, adapting to the Premier League as a manager? It's a completely different process. It's a process, for sure, but it's a part of the challenge of becoming a manager in the Premier League. Each league is different and each league has different tweaks. My experience in Germany, my experience in La Liga.

9:49I will find out a few things that I will learn too quick and I will say, OK, I got it. And it's a process as well. In your own words then, what style of football should we expect from Alonso-led Chelsea? Show me, don't tell me. Go on, just whisper, no one's... No, we want to play good football. Football that transmits good energy and that we have an idea what we want.

10:37nine years. I think you were neighbours when you were at Liverpool and he was the king of Everton Football Club. Can you describe your relationship, how you've sustained it over the years and how you expect it to change now your rival Premier League manager? No, it doesn't change. It doesn't change with admiration because what he's building in Arsenal for sure, he has built something and it has been a process. And Donny as well, he's not on the same street but he's just 10 minutes away so happy and honoured that we have come together for Basque coaches in the Premier League. Did you speak to them both?

11:11Yeah. No, no, we have kept in contact since kids till now. Do you trust what they're telling you this season? Leave it there. Looking ahead at all that is to come, what will make this season it's your first in the Premier League? What will make you feel it's been a success for you? What's the minimum possible that will make you feel proud, Xavi? The feeling that we have had a good season, it will be when we deserve and that we are entitled to win games, that we have good energy, that we are proud of what we see, how we play, how we are ready to compete in each game. And that will give us to be as high as possible.

11:50So how do you judge that, Xavi, ultimately? Time will tell. Time will tell where we will be, but we want to be as high as possible. Godspeed, Xavi Alonso, to you, to your family, to your club. Thank you. Thank you very much. Courage.

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