Chabi Alonso refused to blame the officials after Chelsea were beaten 1-0 by Sunderland in the Premier League on 21 November 2026, instead criticising his players for failing to perform well enough at either end of the pitch.
Sunderland scored the winning goal from the penalty spot after referee judged that Levi Colwill had brought down Brian Brobbey. The decision triggered debate, with Chelsea goalkeeper Mike Penders questioning whether there had been sufficient contact.
“For me, it was not a penalty,” Penders told Sky Sports. “He barely touched him, and I think it was the other way around – he was the one holding him.”
Alonso, speaking to the BBC in comments published by Metro, said he had not watched the incident again and did not want to focus on the referee.
“I haven’t watched the incident again. I have nothing to say about the referee,” he said. “It was a mistake from us, and we could have performed better.”
The Chelsea manager also felt Colwill could have dealt with Brobbey more effectively, while praising the Sunderland forward’s overall display rather than focusing only on the penalty incident.
“It’s a situation where he could have defended better. It is our mistake,” Alonso said.
Brobbey created problems for Chelsea throughout the match, with Alonso highlighting the threat he posed from counter-attacks.
“From counter-attacks that came from almost nothing, he managed to create two chances and he won the penalty,” Alonso added. “But we were prepared for this and tried to deal with him. We could have done better.”
“He is not a player who cannot be stopped. He can be stopped, but you have to defend better than we did today.”
The former Real Madrid manager was also dissatisfied with Chelsea’s attacking performance against a Sunderland side that defended in a deep, compact shape.
“I think we probably did not deserve more than a point,” he said. “Honestly, not much happened. We did not do enough to deserve to win.”
Chelsea lacked the patience, quality and imagination required to create a greater number of chances in the final third, according to Alonso. He also said his side needed to move the ball more consistently from one side of the pitch to the other.
“We faced a team defending in a low block, and we lacked some patience, quality and creativity in the final third to create more opportunities,” he said. “We had to be more consistent in moving the ball from one side to the other, but we did not do that enough.”
Alonso rejected the suggestion that Sunderland’s physical strength had dominated Chelsea, saying the decisive moments came from mistakes in both boxes.
“We were not physically dominated,” he said. “There were situations where we could have defended better, and others where we could have used the ball better in attack.”
