Xabi Alonso makes 'boring' Chelsea admission as Jorrel Hato substitution explained

New manager has seen plenty of goalmouth action since his arrival - but not all of it welcome

Xabi Alonso has confirmed his decision to hook Jorrel Hato at half-time of Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Hull was tactical.

The Blues led early against Hull but trailed 2-1 at half-time after a brace from Mohamed Belloumi, with Hato guilty of making a glaring error for the first as the ball bounced over his head to allow the Algerian to fire past Emi Martinez. Joao Pedro hit an equaliser after the break to ensure the points were shared.

Hato was replaced by Pep Chavarria at the break, Alonso confirmed the decision was not injury-related. He told reporters: “We wanted a player with another profile. Pep is different, that was the decision.

Chelsea are earning a reputation as one of the Premier League’s most entertaining sides, with their first four matches featuring 19 goals.

Hooked: Jorrel Hato

Getty

That is partly down to a worryingly porous back line which has been repeatedly bailed out by a fine attacking force.

“I hope one day you will [come to the post-match press conference] and say it was a boring game,” Alonso joked to reporters, before admitting: “[This result] repeats patterns we are making. It will take time to fix them.

“When we get the lead, you still need to be competing, and not to give chances so easily for them to come back.

“Especially the first goal, we can do much better. It was too soft to give them this goal, because then we were controlling, we were creating chances, and that momentum we had changed the mood and the score of the game.

It is something we need to be talking [about] and need to address

Xabi Alonso

“It is something we need to be talking [about] and need to address. It has had an impact on our performances.”

Pressed as to whether his defenders were his biggest area of concern, Alonso added: “We can do better. We need to know that even when we have the lead, a very important part of the game is to hold together, keep the distances, to go intense in the situations to defend, and I am sure we can do better.

“We need to be aware that in any situation, any team in the Premier League can hurt you. Today it was from a long ball, two bounces, the way it happened, you need to be very aware.

“You have to be ready. the danger can come from any situation. If you are soft, you are not prepared, you will be punished, and today we were punished.”