Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso conceded “everything was disappointing” after his side suffered a 3-0 defeat at Brentford tonight.
Chelsea were arguably the better side in the first half but capitulated once Jaidon Anthony nodded the home side ahead from a corner just after the hour mark.
Igor Thiago scored his first goal of the season late on to make it 2-0 and Fabio Carvalho tapped in a third in injury time to complete an awful 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 must do better. For 45 minutes we were competing well, but in the second half we dropped, and conceded the three goals. You need to be very focused, and once you concede from set-pieces, it gives them an advantage and control because once you concede the second goal it becomes much harder and we lost a little bit of our discipline when we were close to the box. We have to correct our mistakes.”
Chelsea offered little going forward while also looking defensively weak.
“First half we were around [the box] but not creating big chances,” said former Real Madrid boss Alonso. “We missed the last pass, the last dribble to get shots in clear positions, but that’s one part. The other part is when you need to hold, when you need to be tight, [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.”
Lacking spark going forward and weak defensively – Chelsea’s issues laid bare
Chelsea have now shipped 12 goals in five Premier League games, the most in the top flight.
Alonso said: “It’s everything but for sure individual and collective details will have to be better, but it’s not only defensively, with the ball there are parts where we need to do better.”
Set-pieces remain a huge issue for Chelsea and England international Levi Colwill admitted they had to improve in that area for the club to move forward.
He told Sky Sports: “Not been good enough. At times we have been bullied in the box, we need to definitely improve with that. We have all got trust in our set-piece coach and still adjusting to new things. We do need to improve as a team.
“I don’t think spirit went down. It hurt and we tried to push for the equaliser and we got hit on the counter attack. I don’t think our spirit dropped.
“We still need to improve a lot. We can’t rely on our front three to pull us out of danger. The rest of us have to help as much as possible. We definitely have a lot of room to improve.”
Brilliant Brentford enjoy taste of victory
While it was a dismal night for Chelsea, it was one of celebration for Brentford, who lapped up the adulation of their supporters at the final whistle.
Boss Keith Andrews said: “I felt like there was something bubbling towards tonight and I have this unbelievable calm around our team because I trust them. I see a humility and hunger within the group and we can challenge each other.
“We have to continue to get better in this league, the money teams are spending on players but that’s just on paper, what we do every day in training is pushing boundaries, be open with each other and continue to go on this journey and I’m loving the journey.”
The win moved Brentford up to third ahead of the rest of the weekend games.
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