Xabi Alonso refused to make excuses after Chelsea lost 1-0 at Sunderland, admitting his side neither defended nor attacked well enough. The Black Cats, bottom of the Premier League with just one win in nine games, beat the Blues at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon, with an Enzo Le Fee penalty the difference between the sides.
Penalty controversy
There was controversy over the penalty decision, with Levi Colwill adjudged to have hauled down Brian Brobbey, although it looked like both players were pulling the other's shirt. Chelsea goalkeeper Mike Penders criticised the decision, telling Sky Sports: 'For me it wasn't a penalty. He barely touched him, I think it was the other way round. He grabbed him.'
Alonso did not share that view, telling the BBC: 'I haven't seen it back. Nothing to comment on the referee. It is something that is our fault. We could have done better.' He added: 'I think it's an action where he can defend better. It's our mistake.'
Defensive and attacking frustrations
Alonso was impressed by Brobbey over the game, not just in winning the penalty, but felt his defenders could have done better against the big Dutchman. 'From transitions out of almost nothing he got a couple of chances, he got the penalty as well,' he said. 'But we have been preparing for that, we have tried, we could have done better. He is not unstoppable. He is stoppable but when you defend better than we did today.'
The former Real Madrid boss was also frustrated with what his forwards produced. 'I think we didn't deserve more than probably one point,' he said. 'Not much happened, to be honest. We didn't produce enough to deserve to win. We were against a low block we missed a bit of patience, a bit of quality, a bit of creativity on the last third to create more chances, you need to be more consistent to move the ball from one side to the other that we didn't do good enough.'
Reaction and table impact
When it was suggested that Sunderland's physical superiority meant they could bully Chelsea, Alonso said: 'Not bullied. There's situations that we could have defended better. Situations that we could have had better advantages in attack.'
Defeat left Chelsea fifth in the table, while Sunderland climbed to 18th.
