Xabi Alonso is setting up Chelsea to play in whatever way works best, according to him.

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Game by game, Xabi Alonso is getting his feet under the table at Chelsea, and he’s promised major changes before the end of this season.

Speaking to Jamie Carragher in a wide ranging interview, the Blues boss discussed how he was willing to adapt his ideas to different squad and different leagues.

Alonso promises pragmatic philosophy

“It’s adapting to the players you have, to th e league where you are. When I went to Leverkusen, we became a very counter attacking team,” Alonso explained.

“I saw the team and I said it’s about competing. We changed the system, we were very compact… I have ideas of what I like, but you try to adapt as well.”

“Some ideas don’t change that much, but some other things you discover along the way.”

It seems obvious – every manager should be considering the players they have and the context of the club before deciding how to play. But as we’ve experienced at Chelsea, many put their ideas above any practical concerns.

Today we don’t really care what style we play in – we just want to win.

You can see the manager speaking in the clip embedded here:

Alonso, yet again, reiterates the point about adapting the tactics based on the internal and external factors. The former can refer to the qualities of the squad and their tactical development stage, while the latter would generally be about the nature and demands of the league.…

— Fahd (@fahdahmed987) October 23, 2026

In other news…

Our predicted team for today’s game has Alonso making just one change to the team that beat Everton a week ago.

Xabi Alonso has promised a totally different Chelsea team when we reach the end of the season. But he didn’t expand on that…