Chelsea manager search: Xabi Alonso vs Andoni Iraola — who should Chelsea appoint?

Chelsea face Manchester City in Saturday’s FA Cup final, but you would forgive supporters for having bigger issues on their minds.

Admittedly, beating Pep Guardiola’s side would give the Blues something to celebrate after a miserable first half of 2026, which has seen them go from Champions League favourites to struggling to finish in the division’s top 10.

When Chelsea sacked Enzo Maresca on New Year’s Day, they were fifth in the Premier League table after 19 matches, nine points behind Aston Villa in third, three adrift of Liverpool and level on points with Manchester United.

Jarringly, Bournemouth, the side Maresca last faced at the helm in December’s 2-2 draw, were 15th in the standings on January 1, seven behind the West Londoners. Fast-forward to the penultimate matchday of the season, and Andoni Iraola’s men are sixth in the top flight, with the Cherries six points clear of the struggling Blues in ninth.

If both league results in the final two games of the season are unfavourable, the Blues could fall out of the top half.

Of course, defeating Pep Guardiola’s men in a one-off match would see the capital club end a topsy-turvy season with unexpected silverware, guaranteeing European football for next season, but that joy would only paper over the cracks.

Admittedly, claiming silverware would end a wretched five-year winless run against Manchester City, spanning 13 matches since 2021’s Champions League final, as well as snapping a six-match losing run at Wembley Stadium — suffering defeat in three FA Cup finals and as many EFL Cup deciders — since 2018’s 1-0 success over Manchester United in England’s premier cup competition.

There would be elation, but major decisions must be made during the summer, the first of which is the next appointment to succeed Liam Rosenior’s car-crash tenure.

Here, Sports Mole examines the reported leading candidates on Chelsea’s shortlist — Xabi Alonso and Iraola — asking what must change for the eventual appointment to flourish.

Xabi Alonso

A year ago, Alonso’s name being brought up in the conversation may have delighted supporters, but a mixed spell in Madrid means caution should be preached.

Nonetheless, there is a strong belief that the Santiago Bernabeu environment was not entirely receptive to Alonso's ideas.

Real Madrid are historically individualists and are counter-cultural to collectivism, and the in-house politicking and big egos in the dressing room meant the former Bayer Leverkusen boss was facing an uphill challenge.

The 44-year-old did show tactical variety in the Spanish capital, often utilising several variations of a back four that typically morphed into a 4-4-2 in possession and at times a 3-4-2-1, the latter of which was his favoured approach in Germany.

While wing-backs Alex Grimaldo and Jeremie Frimpong offered width to make up a front five, with two No. 10s — typically Jonas Hofmann and Florian Wirtz — and Victor Boniface up top, Alonso tweaked his approach in Madrid, even if the wider principles with and without the ball were similar.

Similar tweaking may be necessary if he becomes Chelsea head coach, as Reece James’s muscle injuries leave him at risk of bombing forward every so often, while there may not be a suited wing-back for the opposite flank, unless Marc Cucurella is utilised there or another member of the squad is repurposed for the role.

Nevertheless, Chelsea’s broader approach to recruitment, with the head coach having little say in the club's direction, must change to give Alonso anything resembling optimal conditions to thrive.

Anything less, and the Spaniard faces another uphill battle in a suboptimal environment.

Andoni Iraola

Most observers are curious as to how Iraola's ultra-aggressive, high-energy football will potentially translate to a Chelsea side that were given stick for being outrun in 35 consecutive league matches until last Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Anfield.

However, a look at Opta's PPDA (the number of passes a team allow their opponents to make before attempting to win the ball back) metric shows that Chelsea (10.9) are fourth in that regard, behind Brighton & Hove Albion (10.0), Arsenal (10.7) and Tottenham Hotspur (10.8), with Iraola's Cherries (11.2) just trailing the Blues.

While Bournemouth are placed third for total high turnovers per match (8.67), with Chelsea down in ninth for that metric, the Blues notably sit second behind Man City for shot-ending turnovers upfield, a place ahead of Iraola's team, with the Londoners outranking every side in the league for percentage of shots from a those regains at the top end of the pitch resulting in an attempt at goal.

The above suggests that the West Londoners are capable of pulling their weight if necessary, though the team’s broader work ethic over 90 minutes remains questionable.

While Bournemouth have scored a joint-top nine fast-break goals (0.25 per match) to Chelsea's five (0.14), the capital club have one fewer fast break (38) than the Dorset-based side.

Indeed, while both sides can at times be accused of being too open, there are stylistic similarities between Iraola’s current club and the one he could take charge of this summer.

Nonetheless, like Alonso, the former right-back will require a far more stable environment for his ideas to bear fruit.

Alonso took over a Leverkusen side that were in the relegation zone after eight rounds in October 2022 and guided them to a sixth-place finish in 2022-23.

A year later, the former midfielder made them champions for the first time in the club’s history, finishing unbeaten to end Bayern Munich’s 11-year hegemony, effectively proving his ability to aid struggling sides, even if he has to achieve this on a greater scale in the ultra-competitive Premier League if appointed in West London.

Iraola, for his part, has shown he can adapt to a high turnover of players and still remain competitive, but the ex-Athletic Club right-back must repeat that success at a top-six club under greater scrutiny.

Be that as it may, while many are concerned about the head coach in the dugout, question marks should be directed at the hierarchy, whose approach to running the club has distanced the five-time Premier League winners from the division’s best and the continent’s finest.

Nothing changes in West London until the broader culture at Stamford Bridge does.