Xabi Alonso: New Chelsea manager on Morgan Rogers, Cole Palmer and working on 'soul' of the Blues
Xabi Alonso explains his plans for Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer plus formations and developing Chelsea's 'soul' this season; watch Fulham vs Chelsea from 6.30pm on Monday Night Football, kick-off 8pm
Friday 21 August 2026 15:35, UK
Xabi Alonso said he will be flexible in his approach with club-record summer signing Morgan Rogers ahead of a potential Chelsea debut in their Premier League opener at Fulham, live on Monday Night Football.
Rogers became the latest arrival at Stamford Bridge this summer - following his new manager - in a £117m move from Aston Villa.
The 24-year-old scored on his unofficial debut in a friendly victory over Real Sociedad last weekend but more widely, there have been questions about how he would fit into Alonso's system, given Chelsea's recent record of possession football over Villa's often more direct approach.
- Transfer Centre LIVE! | Chelsea news & transfers🔵
- Chelsea fixtures & scores | FREE Chelsea highlights▶️
- Got Sky? Watch Premier League games LIVE on your phone📱
- Not got Sky? Latest Sky Sports deals or stream PL games with no contract📺
His relationship with Cole Palmer - a player with numerous similarities, not least his 'Cold Palmer' celebration - had also been called into question, though Rogers himself said last week he was "relishing" the opportunity to link up with his England team-mate.
But speaking ahead of Monday's west London derby at Craven Cottage, live on Sky Sports, Alonso said he would be a manager who would be adaptable in his approach - and called on his new player to be too.
He told Sky Sports: "When we need to have good control, I think Morgan can do it. Our game is whatever it takes. So when we have to do transition, we will do transition. All the rest of the players, they need to understand what it takes because this is to be competitive.
"You have a plan, you have an idea, you have a style, but sometimes the game demands something different. Are you able to adapt to that and to be competitive in that momentum as well? If we are able to understand that and to do that, we will win more games.
"We tend to, more than in one specific picture, to have principles when we are moving around the pitch. And those can be in one formation or a different formation. We have players who have enough flexibility to play in different ones. So that gives us possibilities to prepare with our own identity."
Alongside Rogers, another of Alonso's biggest tasks will be getting the best out of Palmer, who has found life harder at Stamford Bridge over the last two years after a stunning opening season in London - but the new boss is already working out how to understand his No 10.
"Different players need different connections and Cole, for sure, he's very analytical," Alonso said. "I think that he's smart.
"You need to give him his space to connect, but I'm really enjoying it because he's top-talented and with little, he understands a lot so it's been very interesting."
Alonso's preference in deploying a three-man defence, as he did in his unbeaten domestic season with Bayer Leverkusen in 2023/24, has been one of the major talking points of pre-season around Stamford Bridge.
The new boss ditched that approach at Real Madrid but has drifted back towards it in the final weeks of preparations for his first season at Chelsea, but said he would not become wedded to one formation at the club - and that developing the 'soul' of his new side will be his main priority.
He said: "Lots of teams play three at the back in certain parts of the game. You see each team has to be so sophisticated to prepare for each game and know what they're going to do because each team, they prepare so well.
"But above the football qualities, above the tactics, for me it's the soul of the team, the team spirit. We are able to connect, to have this good energy that we share.
"This is a process, it's not one day you create that, but we start feeling it and we start enjoying it. That will be for me the strongest force and strength of this team.
"When you focus on one thing, you tend to improve those things. When you don't focus that much, maybe those things are not important. But for me, this is very important. This is a process, it takes time, but I'm sure that what we started will get better with the games."
Watch Fulham vs Chelsea live on Monday Night Football from 6.30pm on Monday, kick-off 8pm.
