Chelsea's Transformation Under Xabi Alonso in Jakarta
Chelsea finally looked like a Xabi Alonso team in Jakarta. Aggressive, structured, ruthless from dead balls. After two straight pre-season defeats and a limp showing against Juventus, this was something very different: a 3-0 dismantling of AC Milan that carried both clarity and conviction.
Joao Pedro walked away with the headlines and the match ball in his sights. The Brazilian walked away with two goals, both at key psychological moments, and the sense that he might be more than just another attacking option in a crowded squad.
But this night was really about shape, identity and a quietly transformative figure on the Chelsea staff.
Alonso goes all-in on 3-4-3
The half-measures are gone. The hybrid system that drifted between 4-2-3-1 and 3-4-3 was left on the tarmac. In Jakarta, Alonso committed fully to his 3-4-3, and Chelsea looked instantly more comfortable, more dangerous, and far more coherent.
Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia ran the midfield with a maturity that belied the date on the calendar. Caicedo frequently dropped into the back three to start attacks, dictating tempo from deep. Lavia had the less glamorous job: stick to Luka Modric and suffocate Milan’s rhythm. He did it so well that Modric, of all people, drifted through long spells almost unnoticed.
The structure suited them. The ball moved quicker. Passing lanes opened. Milan chased shadows.
Out wide, Marco Palestra was the revelation. Nominally a left wing-back, he played like a two-footed problem Milan never solved. He went outside with ease, then cut inside with equal comfort, opening angles that unsettled defenders and midfielders alike. The 21-year-old created one of Chelsea’s best early chances, slipping in Danny Welbeck in the first half, and later went close himself. Every touch hinted at a player who can operate on either flank and still look natural.
This was the Alonso blueprint, finally drawn with thick ink.
McPhee’s fingerprints on a set-piece masterclass
Chelsea scored 10 goals from corners in the entire 2025/26 Premier League season. They scored two in 90 minutes here.
Austin McPhee has barely unpacked his bags as the club’s new set-piece coach, but his influence is already obvious. The routines were sharp, the movements rehearsed, the execution brutal.
Right on the stroke of half-time, the pressure told. From a corner, Joao Pedro peeled off Milan goalkeeper Lorenzo Torriani, ghosted into space and glanced Caicedo’s delivery into the far corner. It was clever, simple, and completely untracked. A training-ground pattern, brought to life.
Three minutes after the break, the next routine ended the contest. Another corner, another loose ball on the edge of the box. Caicedo, this time the finisher, strode onto the volley and drilled it home. Milan’s defence stood and watched; Chelsea’s bench erupted.
Two set-piece goals, both different, both ruthless. For a side that lagged far behind Arsenal’s dead-ball output last season, this was a glimpse of a very real weapon.
Joao Pedro leads the line, then punishes Milan
Joao Pedro’s night started with a miss that would have haunted lesser forwards. On 42 minutes, Palestra twisted inside, rolled the ball into his path, and the Brazilian lifted his first-time effort over the bar from a prime position. Hands on head, a rueful smile. A chance gone.
He didn’t dwell on it.
Deep into first-half stoppage time, he attacked Caicedo’s corner with perfect timing to give Chelsea the lead. A smart run, a deft header, and a very deliberate message: keep feeding me.
Milan made seven changes at the break. Within a minute, Joao Pedro punished the disruption. Pedro Neto, lively all evening, whipped in an in-swinging cross from the right. Joao Pedro drifted to the back post, read the flight early, and stabbed the ball home from close range. Two goals in two minutes either side of half-time. Tie over.
His movement was sharp, his finishing decisive. In a squad still searching for a clear hierarchy in attack, he made his case.
Neto sparks, Quenda and Jackson rattle the frame
This wasn’t just about the scorers. Neto, operating off the flank, forced Torriani into his first serious save on 27 minutes with a curling strike from a loose ball that had the Milan keeper at full stretch. His directness and delivery repeatedly turned Milan’s back line.
From the bench, Geovany Quenda and Nicolas Jackson injected even more chaos into a tiring defence.
Quenda, on 74 minutes, squared up his marker in the box, burst past him and smashed a fierce drive against the near post. It was the kind of wing play that wakes a game up even when the scoreline is settled.
Jackson then did something similar on the opposite side. Eight minutes from time, he slalomed his way into space, opened his body and aimed for the near corner, only to see his effort cannon back off the woodwork. Before that, he had already carved open Milan with a clever reverse pass to create a chance for Cole Palmer. He did everything but score.
For a player whose future at Stamford Bridge is often debated, this was a reminder: there is still a role he can play if he marries that energy with end product.
Estevao almost joined the party late on, racing through on 87 minutes and trying to lift the ball over Torriani, who stood tall and tipped it over. By then, Milan were hanging on. Chelsea were enjoying themselves.
A win that feels bigger than the scoreline
Yes, it is pre-season. The humidity, the travel, the endless substitutions – none of it mirrors a Premier League Saturday. But context matters.
Chelsea arrived in Jakarta off the back of a 1-2 defeat to Tottenham and a flat 0-1 loss to Juventus. Questions about sharpness, cohesion and direction were starting to form. Against Milan, those questions met a very different set of answers.
The 3-4-3 looked settled. The midfield axis of Caicedo and Lavia controlled the game. Palestra offered genuine two-footed threat from wing-back. The set pieces were drilled and dangerous. The forwards, from Joao Pedro to Jackson, created chances at will.
They could have scored five. They scored three. More importantly, they looked like a team with a plan.
Next up is Johor Darul Ta’zim in Malaysia, then a return to Stamford Bridge to face Real Sociedad. The opposition will change, the intensity will rise, and the real scrutiny will come when the Premier League begins.
But in Jakarta, under floodlights and noise, Chelsea finally looked like they know what they want to be under Xabi Alonso.
Now the question is simple: can they carry this version of themselves into the season that actually counts?
