{"id":14289,"date":"2026-09-05T17:13:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T16:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=14289"},"modified":"2026-09-07T15:17:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T14:17:58","slug":"blunting-the-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=14289","title":{"rendered":"Blunting the Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"kcznD31ySvNPZvsCnBsdPg\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1257981775\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'kcznD31ySvNPZvsCnBsdPg',sig:'nzYoNq6JSNqOCOdRTjPcH1MPLjbRi0W9BSIpGo3g5SA=',w:'594px',h:'406px',items:'1257981775',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p><em>By North Bank Ned<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so the Stadium of Stone, where we entertain our now second-nearest and only slightly less disliked Premier League neighbours on Sunday afternoon.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Clearlake\/Bohley consortium\u2019s expensively assembled inventory of footballers arrives with two high-scoring victories to their name, pointing to both the potency of their attack and the vulnerability of their defence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have had extensive discussion in this fine establishment about BlueCo\u2019s business model. Suffice it to say that, whatever the nuances of the various interpretations advanced, there is agreement that Bridgenomics is built on precarious foundations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps the wheel has come full circle. The Mears brothers, Gus and Joe \u2014 older \u2018holics will recognise the family name \u2014 had acquired the lease on Stamford Bridge in 1904, intending to stage professional football.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fulham turned down the brothers\u2019 offer to move up the road as their tenants. Henry Norris, then Fulham\u2019s chairman and later to be ours, was a property developer who could smell a bad deal a mile off \u2014 or, in this case, 1.6 miles off.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So Gus and Joe splashed the cash to acquire professionals wholesale and create an insta-team, buying their way into the Football League as the only club to join without having played a game of football.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The apple doesn\u2019t fall far from the tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Xabi Alonso<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arteta\u2019s old friend Xabi Alonso may prove Bohley\u2019s value acquisition this season, although given the rapid turnover in the Chelsea manager\u2019s chair, what guarantee is there that he will last the season?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being Basque lends a gloss to any PL manager\u2019s reputation these days, and having played youth football for Antiguoko appears to be de rigueur. Nonetheless, the 44-year-old Alonso is regarded as one of the outstanding managers of his generation, even if that reputation rests on one spectacular season with Bayer Leverkusen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His playing career was storied, winning European championships and a World Cup with Spain, as well as titles and cups with Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. On my unscientific theory that all great managers are seeking redemption for an unrealised playing ambition, it is difficult to see what that might be for Alonso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His coaching career began with Real Madrid\u2019s U-14s. He returned to the Basque Country in 2019 to take over the team where, two decades earlier, he had started his senior playing career, Real Sociedad\u2019s B team. Having secured promotion in his second season, he moved to the Bundesliga midway through the 2022-23 season. In his first full season at Bayer Leverkusen, he achieved an unprecedented undefeated domestic double. His sole loss in 53 games was the Europa League final.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His team was built around the nous of a thirty-something Granit Xhaka and the attacking flair of a young Florian Wirtz, though let us not forget that our very own Piero Hincapi\u00e9 made 43 appearances. Xhaka and another 30-year-old, Jonas Hofmann, were bought ahead of the season to add experience to a mostly young squad. Rinse and repeat at Chelsea with another of our old boys, Danny Welbeck, and Jordan Henderson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After two and a half seasons in North Rhine-Westphalia, Alonso decamped to another of his old clubs, Real Madrid, to succeed Carlo Ancelotti. After seven months of failing to get Florentino P\u00e9rez\u2019s ego-driven Gal\u00e1cticos to knuckle down to his technical tactics, in which wing-backs and aggressive pressing rather than star forwards and flair were the attacking fulcrum, he was given the old tin tack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alonso\u2019s system blends the two dominant tactical philosophies, Pep-like positional structure and the unpredictability of relational play, tied together with an early-De Zerbi-like patient build-up. It uses a 3-2-5 structure that invites pressure to open up space in midfield from which to launch rapid attacks. When defending, the shape shifts into a 5-4-1 mid-block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike in Madrid, at Leverkusen, Alonso had two exceptional wingbacks, Alejandro Grimaldo&nbsp;and&nbsp;Jeremie Frimpong. Good defenders, they also provided the attacking verticality, tempo&nbsp;and&nbsp;width to stretch opposing defences and enable the rotations and overloads on both sides of the pitch that gave his attack its unpredictability.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Chelsea, Alonso is pragmatically adapting to the fact that he doesn\u2019t have two comparable wing-backs or 8s, but he does have two elite 10s in Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer. His underlying approach remains the same, but the emphasis has shifted. The rotations and overloads now aim to create space in the inside channels for the two Englishmen to exploit where they can do the most damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The oddity is that, unlike his possession-dominant Leverkusen and Real Madrid, Alonso\u2019s Chelsea had only 38% possession against Fulham and 25% against Brighton.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our old boy, Emi Martinez, newly arrived from Villa, will be between the sticks, with the hapless Robert S\u00e1nchez already loaned out to Como. In front of him will likely be an Anglo-French back three of Wesley Fofana, Maxence Lacroix, a \u20ac60.7 million summer signing from Palace, and Levi Colwill.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reece James and Moises Caicedo would be the first-choice central midfielders, although James is still working his way back to full fitness and Caicedo is an injury doubt. Malo Gusto and Romeo Lavia may again deputise, now that the unlikeable Enzo Fernandez has been sold to Man City. Marc Cucurella would have been tailor-made for Alonso\u2019s system but had already been sold to Real Madrid (have the Chavs no one detestable left?)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\u2019t know whether Alonso has not settled on his best wingback pairing yet, or simply has not been able to field it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marco Palestra, who arrived in the summer from Atalanta for \u20ac57 million, and Pedro Neto would probably be first choice, but Palestra missed the first two league games through injury and will likely miss this one, too. Gusto and the young Dutchman Jorrel Hato started there against Fulham, with Pedro Neto, who is probably the weakest defensively, on the bench. Alonso switched to a 4-2-3-1 for the League Cup game against Luton, before reverting to a back three last weekend against Brighton. Pedro Neto came in for Gusto, who moved inside to replace James.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alonso also has the 19-year-old Geovany&nbsp;Quenda, a \u20ac50 million summer acquisition from Sporting, and the Spaniard Pep&nbsp;Chavarr\u00eda, a \u20ac19 million summer arrival from Rayo Vallecano, as options. Both may figure more prominently as the season progresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The front three pick themselves: Palmer, Rogers and Joao Pedro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his pre-match presser, Arteta teased the return of Jurrien Timber. In reality, he will perm two of Benny Blanco, Ezri Konsa and Cristhian Mosquera, if fit, to start on the right side of the defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His other selection questions will be in midfield. Key to success will be shackling Rogers and Palmer, cutting off Joao Pedro\u2019s supply, and preventing an early goal, which gave Alonso\u2019s side momentum against Fulham and Brighton. I expect us to lay down a heavy blanket of control from the outset.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That could mean Eze or Merino starting, and, if fit, Bruno G, at the expense of MLS and Tzolis. Conversely, Arteta may want Saka and Tzolis to peg back Alonzo\u2019s wing-backs to blunt the triangles spearheaded by Palmer and Rogers, or to exploit the Achilles\u2019 heel of 3-4-3, namely the space behind the wing-backs when they push high and wide. My punt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">White &#8211; Konsa &#8211; Gabriel &#8211; Calafiori<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Rice &#8211; MLS<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Saka &#8211; \u00d8degaard &#8211; Eze<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Havertz<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Chelsea defence looks porous enough that we can score one or two, especially if Martinez can demonstrate his knack for letting in at least one against us that he should really stop; 2-1 to the team in red and white, extending our undefeated run in the league against Chelsea to ten games and our unbeaten run in London derbies to 16, while providing a firm reminder that champions play the way champions want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enjoy the game, \u2018holics, near and far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images By North Bank Ned And so the Stadium of Stone, where we entertain our now second-nearest and only slightly less disliked Premier League neighbours on Sunday afternoon.&nbsp; The Clearlake\/Bohley consortium\u2019s expensively assembled inventory of footballers arrives with two high-scoring victories to their name, pointing to both the potency of their attack [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14289"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14289"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14303,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14289\/revisions\/14303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}