Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen lessons may have to wait after rude awakening

This was it. The start of the Xabi Alonso-as-coach story, where one of the most natural schemers in a midfield would prove himself as adroit and successful with the backdrop of the touchline. If there was any assumption that his former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard would be a certain type of manager based on his assurance as a player, that perhaps goes double for Alonso on the back of three seasons of displaying his philosophy at Real Sociedad’s B team.

The view for a while has been that Alonso is so cerebral that he should be on an inexorable path to familiar ground at the top, with an eventual return to Bayern Munich earmarked by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge back in 2020 (“he will be a coach who may be of interest to Bayern at some point in the future”) and reflagged since his arrival at Bayer Leverkusen.

He seemed to have found the perfect ramp in that direction. There are few Champions League-level clubs where the pressure is milder than Leverkusen. Alonso will have time, space, less fervent fans breathing down his neck than at many of the club’s Bundesliga peers (think just down the road at Borussia Mönchengladbach, a role that Alonso could have easily ended up in), plus plenty of talent and a budget to refine his squad within reason.

We might consider – perhaps especially so in the light of Gerrard’s current struggles – if we shouldn’t be talking about chucking someone the keys to the Maserati before they’ve passed their driving test, especially given the escalation of Alonso’s opening days in situ. His Bundesliga debut was a breeze: a 4-0 win over Schalke at the BayArena, with Alonso’s light autumn jacket still lightly swinging on the coat stand in his new office. Subsequently the real size of his task has become