Chelsea's pre-season preparation campaign mainly revolves around new coach Xabi Alonso. However, in fact, the 56-hour tour, with a flight distance of about 39. 527 km, was planned long before he took office in May.
Chelsea has traveled further and longer than any other club in the Premier League, almost twice the distance compared to the US tour last season under former coach Enzo Maresca. This journey took them to Sydney, Hong Kong (China) and Jakarta, before ending at Iskandar Puteri, Malaysia.
The tight schedule made many people, especially Alonso, feel tired. However, that did not prevent the Spanish strategist from maintaining his training habit. He even ran with the coaching staff at an incredible speed, about 4 minutes 30 seconds/km, to reduce the impact of time zone difference.
That approach contributes to building an unreasonable culture at Chelsea. Before the whole team set off, Alonso even participated in a friendly match between club staff.
Chelsea completed a large volume of fitness exercises in England, including high-intensity training sessions in Cobham. After that, they took advantage of the tour to focus on tactical factors, despite the tight travel schedule and fatigue.
Practical methods and private working sessions
The Blues have made significant efforts to reduce the impacts from the travel schedule. In addition to renting a private Airbus A340, the club quickly adjusted the players' living time according to the Sydney time zone and guided them to sleep after meals throughout the journey.
Training sessions at Sky Park, Sydney FC's home ground, help Chelsea use a compact but high-quality training facility. They also have an open training session at the Allianz Stadium with relatively low intensity.
However, the training session still showed Alonso's practical approach. He often showed his passing ability, and challenged players like Estevao Willian by encouraging him to make crosses with his unsuitable right foot for teammates to finish.
Internal sources said that the initial training regime was quite similar to the Mauricio Pochettino era, with the main focus being fitness. However, tactical ideas were gradually put into application when key players returned after international missions.
In the first 3 matches, Alonso hardly changed the 4-2-3-1 formation favored by Maresca and then used by Liam Rosenior for a short time leading the team.
Key leaders, including co-owner Behdad Eghbali and sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Joe Shields, are all present in Australia. Transfer activities are still taking place despite time differences, as Chelsea are trying to complete the signings of Maxence Lacroix, Danny Welbeck, Jordan Henderson and then Spanish defender Pep Chavarria.
Alonso also spent time working privately with Moises Caicedo and Nicolas Jackson, who returned late after participating in the World Cup, to check their fitness through passing exercises with the coaching staff.
Australia is also where Cole Palmer held his first pre-match press conference in his career. He appeared comfortable, cheerful and open when chatting, and at the same time showed his appeal through his straightforward style.
