After a change of approach in the summer transfer window, a lot of people were expecting a drastic improvement from Chelsea this season under new manager Xabi Alonso

Ten matches into the 2026/27 Premier League season and Chelsea are the epitome of inconsistency. Xabi Alonso's team have demonstrated reasons for positivity but have equally shown why they are a work in progress.

Alonso told his former Liverpool teammate Jamie Carragher last month that this version of his Blues team requires an update. Once the update is complete in May, and all the fixes are done, the product will be a lot more attractive.

So far, though, Alonso has faced plenty of criticism from Chelsea supporters. Particularly those online in the brutal world of social media.

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Some have gone way over the top and have called for the Spaniard to be sacked (seriously), while others have criticised some of his decision making in recent matches. The defeat at home to Tottenham last month really hurt fans. The loss away at Sunderland was a painful one; not least because some of Chelsea's consistent problems over the last few seasons reared their ugly heads once again.

Chelsea's defenders, particularly Levi Colwill and Wesley Fofana, were bullied in the 1-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon. Brian Brobbey is one of the best in the business in regards to pinning a defender back and holding the ball up, but he made it look so easy at the weekend.

Alonso rejected suggestions that his side were 'bullied' but criticised his team's defending on Wearside.

Going into the game, Sunderland were - statistically, at least - the Premier League's worst side. However, less than six months on from their memorable final-day victory over Chelsea, the Black Cats knew the Blues could be got at.

Regis Le Bris' side looked hungrier than Alonso's. Sunderland seemed to be first to the majority of duels, second balls and the home side used their not-so-secret weapon in Brobbey to perfection against a Chelsea defence that did little to prove their doubters wrong.

Context is required, of course: Maxence Lacroix, the £52million signing from Crystal Palace and a mainstay in Alonso's defence when fit, is injured (hamstring) and Josh Acheampong (minor injury), someone whose importance in the defence has increased 10-fold in recent weeks, also missed the trip to Sunderland.

Colwill and Fofana, though, are two of Chelsea's most experienced footballers at this point, yet they proved to be a soft touch on Sunday.

Alonso fielded an experienced side at Sunderland, knowing how tricky an afternoon in front of a raucous home support at the Stadium of Light can be. Eight of the 11 players that started the match had bags of Premier League experience to their name, but at times out there, it looked as if they were shocked with what was unfolding on the pitch.

More experience, less problems. That was the hope for Chelsea - that is why the club tweaked their transfer strategy, which had been extremely youth-centric prior.

After his appointment, Alonso craved more of a balance, not only on the pitch but behind the scenes as well. The likes of Danny Welbeck, Jordan Henderson, Emi Martinez, Pep Chavarria and the aforementioned Lacroix were all signed in a bid to transform the culture behind the scenes at Cobham.

Sources close to Chelsea say that has been the case. That is what Cole Palmer called for during an interview earlier in the year, where the 24-year-old said the club were working on bringing in the "right characters and profiles" to help the Blues compete for major honours this season.

"It's something we're working on together," Palmer said to The Guardian in April. "We're on the same page.

"We want to win now and I think if we add right in the summer we can compete for serious trophies next season. I don't think we're far off.

"If you sign the right players in the right positions and the right characters and profiles, I think we have more than enough quality to compete and be more consistent than we've shown over this season.

"Bringing a manager in mid-season, you have no pre-season, hardly have time to train. You're just focusing on games. But the manager [referring to Rosenior, at the time] is good and when he has a proper pre-season and gets his ideas across properly and the way he wants to play he's a top coach.

"If we as players perform to how we should be performing and we get the right players we can, him and us as a group, do some work."

However, we've seen very few pieces of evidence so far to suggest the culture has completely changed. The win at the Hill Dickinson Stadium midway through last month is perhaps the biggest piece we have at the time of writing.

Alonso has referenced that game as the closest we've seen Chelsea be the version that the manager wants them to be. The Blues, though, couldn't kick on from that.

One step forward, quickly followed by two steps back. That is what Sunday felt like from a Chelsea perspective. It is now three defeats out of five on the road in the Premier League since the start of the season.

The way it feels at the moment is that Alonso was left perhaps a couple of players short in the summer transfer window. A couple of players that Palmer described; of the "right characters and profiles".

It is, however, very, very early days for Alonso. The summer transfer window was essentially phase one of a much longer-term goal set out by Chelsea and their new manager.