Chelsea’s worrying xG numbers prove that exceptional attackers are carrying them so far

Chelsea’s defending has been bad, and the underlying numbers of their attack are a little shaky too, it seems. There are things to be concerned about.

It was a bleak Friday night for Chelsea fans as they watched their team beaten 3-0 by Brentford, and it’s now going to be a very long 3 weeks of international break waiting for them to return to action.

It’s time to reflect on the first short chapter of the Xabi Alonso era. It started well, but three bad results in a row are not a blow in themselves, they also call into question whether those early wins were actually as good as they looked. The Blues continue to be dreadful in defence – they’ve conceded more than anyone else in the whole league with 5 games played.

Chelsea rely on

star attack trio for points so far

But Dom Smith in the Evening Standard is looking at their attack. He points out that Chelsea’s xG so far is just 7.3, putting them well below mid-table in the league. Of course their exceptional attackers have outperformed that number so far, but in the long run it needs to improve before it trends back in the wrong direction.

In other news…

A bitterly frustrated Xabi Alonso criticised his team’s mentality in much the same way we’ve seen a few managers criticise it in recent years.

Joe Cole saw one change Alonso made and knew exactly what it meant – a message to the board from the new manager.

Some of the most damning quotes after the game came from Chelsea defender Levi Colwill, who admitted his team were sometimes getting bullied by the opposition.