Chelsea have clear ideas about what they want to do, claims Marcos Alonso

With N’Golo Kante injured over the international break, Frank Lampard made just one change to the team that beat Southampton 4-1 as Ross Barkley replaced the Frenchman. But with Newcastle United walking in on the back of a 1-0 win against Manchester United the Blues’ were always going to be handed a tough time. That’s exactly what happened before a late Marcos Alonso strike handed Chelsea a tight 1-0 over against the Magpies.

The Blues struggled to create too many clear cut chances and eventually knocked out a win which takes them to fourth place for now. But in an interview, Alonso went on to admit that while the team had studied Newcastle United and planned every move against the Magpies. He further added that while Chelsea lacked a little patience in the first half, they made sure they changed that in the second half.

“Newcastle played very compact and it’s not easy to find spaces to attack or create chances but I think we played well in the second half. We were so intense and finally got the goal and the three points. We believed because we knew the game would be like this. We were prepared for this and in the first half maybe we were lacking a bit of patience in the final third but in the end, we were happy with the three points and the goals. It was a massive win after the international break," said the defender to Chelseafc.com.

The Blues made just one change to the squad that beat Southampton but even then Lampard’s selection meant that he had options both on the bench and even sitting in the reserves. The likes of Michy Batshuayi, Olivier Giroud, Christian Pulisic and Mateo Kovacic were all on the bench while Ross Barkley, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Fikayo Tomori got a chance to shine.

“It’s good to have many options. It obviously depends on getting the right result and we take it game by game but I felt we moved the ball quicker, we pressed when we lost the ball, we tried to keep the team steady on the pitch and defend against counter-attacks. We are doing a good job and we have clear ideas about what we want to do,” concluded the Spaniard.