Chelsea's Alonso lacks identity while Real Madrid revives under Mourinho: a paradox that reopens questions about Perez's controversial decision

Sunderland defeat puts the Spanish coach in a tight spot

Xabi Alonso's start with Chelsea has not lived up to expectations. Ten rounds into the Premier League, the Spanish coach has yet to stamp his anticipated shape on the team, and the results keep swinging. The latest chapter was a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland, who went into the game rock bottom of the table. That loss has only sharpened the question marks over Alonso's future and his project with the Blues.

Chelsea's tally after those first 10 rounds offers little comfort: five wins, one draw and four defeats. Hardly the start you would expect from a side aiming to climb back among the contenders. They are not in any European competition this season either, which hands them more time to rest and prepare than many of their rivals who are juggling extra fixtures.

Losing to Sunderland piled on the pressure and reopened the debate over whether Alonso can build a team that competes. The trouble runs deeper than results. Chelsea's performances lack a clear identity, and that raises the obvious questions. Why the stumble? And will the board give their Spanish coach enough time to put his ideas into practice?

Xabi Alonso has yet to stamp a clear tactical identity on Chelsea since taking charge. The team still lacks stability, both in its style of play and its starting line-up. Nothing yet looks like a settled plan, no identity the Spaniard can call his own, and the constant chopping and changing raises a real question: has he even found the group he trusts to carry out his ideas?

Injuries may be part of the story. The absence of key men like João Pedro, a major addition to the attacking set-up, has clearly hurt. Losing a player of that calibre forces a coach into repeated tweaks, whether in personnel or roles on the pitch, and that goes some way to explaining the instability at Stamford Bridge.

Yet injuries alone don't cover the slump in results. Alonso has to find alternative solutions and give Chelsea a clear character the team can hold onto even when players are missing. A squad this deep hands him plenty of options, and that was supposed to help him ride out exactly these circumstances.

The core problem runs deeper. Chelsea's players still don't know clearly what's asked of them in different game situations, and it shows. The team looks inconsistent from one match to the next. That leaves Alonso facing a major challenge: prove he can mould this group into a cohesive side with a settled style.

The most pressing question right now isn't just whether Xabi Alonso can turn results around. It's whether Chelsea's hierarchy are willing to give him the time to build something real. Europe's great success stories prove the point: some managers need years before their ideas take hold and their teams become genuine contenders.

Take Mikel Arteta at Arsenal. The Spaniard needed several seasons, backed by signings that fit his vision, before the work began to pay off. Arsenal grew into one of the most serious title challengers around, but only after enduring spells where results fell well short of what the fans demanded.

Jürgen Klopp's time at Liverpool tells a similar story about patience. The German needed time to assemble his squad and sharpen its parts before restoring the club to the summit at home and in Europe. A successful project isn't built in a matter of months. It demands a clear vision, steady backing and faith in the manager through the rough patches.

Chelsea, though, have no recent record of that kind of stability. Their board have grown used to pulling the trigger on managers the moment results dip, which leaves Alonso facing a brutal test. Will he get a genuine chance to finish his project and add the players he needs? Or will more wobbles drag back the old script of sackings, with the hierarchy chasing a new idea before the current one is even complete?

That question looks decisive for Alonso's future, because you can't judge any manager on early results alone. Then again, there's no escaping the weight of a defeat to a side rooted to the bottom of the table. It cranks up the pressure and demands clear improvement in the matches ahead.

Xabi Alonso's shaky start with Chelsea opens the door to reconsidering Florentino Perez's call to sack the Spanish coach around a year ago, specifically after Real Madrid's defeat to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final. The decision sparked wide controversy at the time, and it left the Real Madrid president facing criticism from large sections of the fans and observers.

Many felt Alonso had not been given enough opportunity to complete his project at Real Madrid, and that his dismissal was hasty. The Spanish coach had taken on the role amid high expectations after his success in a previous spell with Bayer Leverkusen. But what is happening to him now at Chelsea raises a different question: did Perez believe Alonso did not, at that stage, possess the right attributes to lead a team of Real Madrid's size?

His struggles at Chelsea cannot be considered conclusive proof that Perez got it right. Every coaching experience has its own circumstances. Alonso is also working in a different environment now, with a group of players whose abilities and characteristics differ from those he had at Real Madrid. Yet the recurrence of difficulties around imposing a clear identity and settling on a style of play raises some question marks over his ability to manage the big clubs right now.

Perhaps Perez was convinced Real Madrid needed a coach capable of handling the nature of the club, its pressures and its immediate demands, and that Alonso was not the right choice at that stage, even with his promising technical ideas. It is a viewpoint worth discussing in light of what is happening now. It is also still too early to pass a final judgement on the Spanish coach's experience at Chelsea.

After Alonso's departure, Real Madrid chose to see out the season with Alvaro Arbeloa as interim coach, then opened a new chapter under Jose Mourinho, brought in to put the team back on track. The signs of success soon grew clearer. Following the last international break, Real embarked on a run of strong results and reasserted themselves against their rivals.

That 2-1 win over Barcelona at the Camp Nou said it all. Real went to the home of their fiercest rivals and won, a result that confirmed their ability to handle the big occasions and showed just how much their character has developed under Mourinho. This is a side that now looks stable, confident and ready to compete.

Alonso, meanwhile, is still searching for the right path at Chelsea. He has yet to settle on a lineup or system that gives his team any stability, and the contrast between the two experiences is stark. Mourinho stamped a clear identity on Real Madrid in a matter of weeks. The Spaniard is still wrestling with his English project.

Any fair comparison, though, has to account for the gulf in quality and resources between the two clubs. Real boast a squad packed with players who can decide the biggest games, while Chelsea remain a work in progress. The nature of the competition and the pressures around each club make this far more than a simple question of results.

Chelsea's defeat to Sunderland sounds a fresh alarm for Xabi Alonso. He now needs to show the shape of his project quickly, whether through better results or a clear tactical identity. The board may give him time, but Chelsea's history with managers leaves little room for error. Mourinho's work at Real Madrid, and the controversy around Alonso's exit, linger in the background as the coming rounds approach.