Gary Neville issued a warning to incoming Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso after a ‘disastrous’ season for the Blues ended with a final-day defeat to Sunderland.
A 2-1 loss at the Stadium of Light means Chelsea finished just 10th in the Premier League and failed to qualify for any European competition.
Interim manager Calum McFarlane has been in charge since Liam Rosenior was sacked last month as Chelsea’s third boss of a season which began with Enzo Maresca in the Stamford Bridge hot-seat.
Alonso was confirmed as Chelsea’s next manager last week on a four-year contract, with the former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder set to take over in July.
Love football?
Our seven-day guide to the World Cup is live. 48 teams, 104 games, 1104 players – we’ve got everything you need to know. Sign up now.
Manchester United legend and ex-England defender Neville says Alonso has ‘one hell of a job on his hands’ in west London and believes he has been tasked with ‘sorting the club out’ following a ‘disastrous’ season.
Alonso, one of the best players of his generation, impressed in his first managerial role at Bayer Leverkusen, helping the German club beat European giants Bayern Munich to their first ever Bundesliga title.
His subsequent stint at Real Madrid did not go so well, however, with Alonso leaving the Bernabeu by mutual consent after just seven months in charge.
Asked whether Alonso had ‘one hell of a job on his hands’ after Chelsea ended their campaign with defeat at Sunderland, Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast: ‘Yeah!
‘We’ve been talking about how big a job Roberto De Zerbi has at Spurs, Xabi Alonso has to do exactly the same there at Chelsea.
‘He’s been made the manager but he may as well have been called manager, sporting director, owner, the lot.
‘It seems like they’ve given him the keys to the club and asked him to sort it out because Chelsea are struggling, what a disastrous season it’s been for them.’
Trai Hume gave Sunderland a first-half lead on Sunday and the hosts doubled their advantage after half time thanks to a Malo Gusto own goal.
Cole Palmer gave Chelsea hope with more than half an hour to play but the Blues were unable to score an equaliser and ended the match with ten men as Wesley Fofana was handed their eighth red card of the season, twice as many as the next highest club.
‘We didn’t get the performance we wanted or the result,’ interim boss McFarlane said after the game.
‘The message to the fans – we’re as disappointed as they are, and we’re gutted we couldn’t do it for them. They’ve been brilliant this year, especially in the past couple of weeks when we needed to win games.
‘We felt their presence, and unfortunately we’ve let them down. We weren’t able to produce the performance they deserved.’
While Chelsea returned home despondent, Sunderland’s win propelled them to seventh in the Premier League and ensured they qualified for next season’s Europa League.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.