Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso will be “furious” about the state of his squad and has surely sent a message to the board with his latest actions.

That’s the view of former Blues star Joe Cole as he responded to Alonso bringing on 16-year-old debutant Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli in last night’s 3-0 defeat away to Brentford.

Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat at Brentford is even worse than it looks – here’s why

Chelsea were all over the place defensively once again, letting in three cheap goals in the second half to take their total goals-against tally to 12 in just five Premier League games – the worst defensive record in the entire division.

Cole feels Alonso was clearly showing how angry he was with Chelsea’s board as he brought Nicoll-Jazuli to highlight his lack of other options.

Xabi Alonso signalling his anger to the Chelsea board, says Joe Cole

Xabi Alonso gives instructions during Chelsea vs Leeds (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

“Xabi Alonso is sending a message to the board saying we have not got enough and I’m putting a 16-year-old kid into midfield when we are chasing a game away to our rivals,” Cole said, as quoted by the Metro.

“That was clear as day for me. And the way he walked off at the end,  I think he is furious with that.”

Chelsea also started the game with a midfield pairing of Jordan Henderson and Valentin Barco, which seems far from ideal for a club who want to be competing for the title, or for the top four at the very least.

CFC admittedly have Moises Caicedo out injured, which is bad luck, but Enzo Fernandez left for Manchester City in the summer and clearly wasn’t adequately replaced.

Meanwhile, there’s also a worrying lack of depth behind Caicedo, with Henderson surely too old to be playing regularly at this level, while Barco is still young and new to the Premier League.

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