Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso has revealed he knew he was out of favour under former manager Frank Lampard.
The Spanish defender found himself relegated to a secondary role under the former manager this season, with Ben Chilwell’s arrival from Leicester City pushing him down the pecking order.
As a result, he had managed just three appearances under Lampard earlier in the season, playing ninety minutes against Brighton and Liverpool and 45 minutes against West Bromwich Albion.
After that, he was ostracised from the team, failing to feature in any of Chelsea’s squad’s in the Premier League, FA Cup or League Cup and sitting on the bench in four of their six games in the Champions League group stages.
All indications were that he would be forced out of the club come the summer, but there has been a drastic change in circumstances since Lampard was replaced by Thomas Tuchel.
Unlike his predecessor, the German has handed a key role to Alonso, who has now made eight appearances under the Chelsea boss so far.
His situation is a perfect example of how things can quickly change in football, and speaking to El País, the left-back has discussed what it was like behind the scenes.
“It happens to almost all players at some point in their career,” he said, when asked what is was like to be ‘indisputable’ under his new coach.
“There are moments of suffering. There is only one option: train more than ever. I have done that. I didn’t give up. I didn’t let myself go; if I had, I would have agreed with the coach.
“I had gone through that experience before, and at 30 years old, I knew how to manage the situation.
“In fact, at the end of last season, I ended up playing and very well because I earned it. I scored goals that helped the team a lot.
“But it was clear that the coach was putting me in reluctantly, he didn’t quite trust me, and this season started with the same situation.
“You don’t know what to do. You see that the coach doesn’t count on you, the team is tenth, and you have doubts.
“That’s when I found the support of my family and I was convinced that I could turn the situation around.
“That’s how it has been with the new coach. Now I’m playing. Seeing how the team is doing, undefeated, is a huge satisfaction.”
