Alonso blames club’s “attitude problem” for string of poor results

Alonso blames club’s “attitude problem” for string of poor results

Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso has blamed his side’s “attitude problem” for their recent string of bad results.

Antonio Conte’s side were beaten in humiliating circumstances by Manchester City at the weekend, leaving the Etihad on the end of a 1-0 defeat without having registered a single shot on target.

The defeat was the Blues’ fourth in five league matches, having suffered at the hands of Bournemouth, Watford and Manchester United in previous weeks, and sees them now sit five points behind the top four.

With only nine games to play, Chelsea not qualifying for the Champions League next season is a real possibility, and Alonso says his side must change their attitude if they are to make the top four.

He told Spanish radio station Cope: “The team had the conditions and quality to play much better (at Manchester City), and I don’t think we were at our best.

“I think it’s an attitude problem and we have to make things clearer and improve quickly, because we have nine matches left and we want to be in the top four.

“I think that it is difficult, but we have to change the attitude, right?”

Despite their poor form in the league, Chelsea put in an outstanding performance last month against Barcelona in the Champions League.

The Blues pulled off an astonishing 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge, and were unlucky not to have sent the Spanish giants packing pointless had it not been for the woodwork which denied Man of the Match Willian on two occasions.

Alonso, who also starred in the draw with the La Liga side, says the result proves the Blues quality, but again insisted their inability to repeat such displays week-in week-out is no fault but their own.

“I don’t think we have a problem with quality, we have shown in many matches this season we can be competitive against any team, like we were against Barcelona a couple of weeks ago.

“If we don’t reach that kind of level of performance in every match it’s because of our attitude.”