Chelsea surrendered control of the game against Tottenham in an attempt to play on the counter – it didn’t work.

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Pundits and journalists up and down the land have been looking at Chelsea’s defeat to Tottenham yesterday and what went wrong. The tactics used by Xabi Alonso have been questioned.

Will Butcher, writing for the Chelsea Chronicle, was clear that it wasn’t just the decision to play Morgan Rogers up top that didn’t work. The Blues’ attempts to sit deep and hit Spurs on the break didn’t work at all.

Alonso’s conservative tactics backfire against Chelsea

“By far and away, Alonso’s biggest mistake was instructing his side to sit back and attempt to hit Spurs on the counter,” he wrote.

“It simply handed Spurs control – boasting too much quality to let Chelsea have it.

“Alonso’s thought process might have been similar to the win over Brighton; that Chelsea would break with speed and score goals while Brighton’s players were in Chelsea territory. That did not happen.”

Instead, the Blues ended a home game against a rival with 31% possession. That is a record low in this fixture, and the coach should have seen at least by the second half that changed were needed.

In other news…

Joe Cole talked about the mistake Mike Penders made for Tottenham’s goal and said it was a technical mistake on the punch.

It was a disappointing result for Chelsea in the end – a 2-0 defeat in a game they were expecting to win.

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