Xabi Alonso has revealed details of his half-time message to the Chelsea squad that helped inspire their victory over Manchester United.
The Blues piled more misery on Man Utd and under-fire manager Michael Carrick in Saturday's heavyweight Premier League lunchtime kick-off at Stamford Bridge, running out 2-0 winners.
A much-needed response
It was a much-needed response from Chelsea to what had otherwise been a difficult week, with Wednesday night's Carabao Cup last-16 exit on penalties at the hands of Liverpool following hot on the heels of only their second home league defeat by fierce rivals Tottenham in 36 years.
Morgan Rogers opened the scoring with a superb individual goal five minutes after the break, with Cole Palmer - back from a suspension that ruled him out at Anfield - then netting from the penalty spot after a foul on Wesley Fofana by Lisandro Martinez, who picked up two yellow cards in the space of just 83 seconds to leave crisis-stricken United with 10 men for more than 25 minutes.
First-half struggles and second-half dominance
The impressive Estevao also saw two goals ruled out for offside on a rare start this season, while United goalkeeper Senne Lammens made a number of fine saves to go along with big misses by the likes of Palmer and substitute Valentin Barco.
Though the scoreline should have been more emphatic in the end, Chelsea certainly did not have everything their own way initially, with United delivering a much-improved first-half performance. They were unfortunate not to go in at the break in front having been the better team and seen Matheus Cunha's close-range header also chalked off for offside.
However, Chelsea dominated thereafter - also grateful to Mike Penders for an extraordinary stoppage-time save that brushed Bryan Mbeumo's fizzing long-range effort onto the crossbar - to regain some momentum under Alonso and rise back up to fourth in the Premier League table before fifth-place Liverpool host second-place Arsenal in an Anfield blockbuster on Sunday.
Alonso's half-time message
Asked what message he had delivered to his players at half-time, Alonso said: "We have spoken at half-time that we're going to win this game with the ball.
"So the improvement has been with the ball, the message has been to be better with the ball, not to give away that much, to change something tactically but we were more comfortable on the pitch, we looked better controlled and that's when you feel better with the ball, normally you are better for defending as well.
"So I think that reaction, that change has been important for the goal and for the feeling as well."
