Luciano Spalletti has been very complimentary of Chelsea despite his Juventus team beating them 1-0 in a pre-season friendly.

Xabi Alonso put out quite a strong XI in the first half, with new signing Danny Welbeck starting alongside Joao Pedro.

However, despite having two very good Premier League strikers on the pitch, Chelsea were still unable to score and went on to lose the game.

Thoughts after another pre-season defeat under Xabi Alonso?🤔

Luciano Spalletti claims Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea can do everything

According to Spalletti, Alonso has a Chelsea team capable of doing everything, including starting attacks from the back.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, which has been shared by Juventus’ official club website, the Italian said: “Chelsea can do it all: they can build from the back, they can finish, and they can really drive the game forward in terms of tempo and pace. They’re a top-class side.”

We did not see all of that during the game, but there were some positives for Alonso to take away. For example, summer signing Geovany Quenda was very promising.

The Portuguese winger caused a lot of problems on the right before being taken off. Marco Palestra, a player who will be familiar to Spalletti and Italian football, also impressed.

In fact, Palestra was arguably Chelsea’s top performer against Juventus. He will be looking to push Reece James and Malo Gusto for a starting spot this upcoming season.

Where Chelsea need to improve under Xabi Alonso

Not too many Chelsea fans will be reading much into Spalletti’s praise. After all, this is a Chelsea side who nearly finished in the bottom half of the Premier League table last term.

There is much room for improvement, particularly in defence. It is only pre-season, but the Blues have not looked convincing in that area of the pitch at all.

Hopefully once Reece James returns and Maxence Lacroix is integrated into the team things will improve.

The Club World Cup holders have made some good signings this summer, but the team are still not where they need to be. Alonso is a quality coach, though, and should be able to get Chelsea back on the right track again.