Bonding & building - what we learned about Alonso's Chelsea in pre-season

Chelsea's pre-season campaign was all about new manager Xabi Alonso but, in truth, the 56 hours spent travelling 24,561 miles by plane had been organised long before his appointment in May.

The Blues travelled further and longer than any other Premier League club, almost twice as much as during last season's US tour under former boss Enzo Maresca, visiting Sydney, Hong Kong and Jakarta before finishing in Iskandar Puteri, Malaysia, on Sunday.

It was tiring for many, not least Alonso, but that did not stop him setting standards by running off the jetlag at a remarkable pace of four minutes 30 seconds per kilometre alongside members of the club staff.

It set the tone for a culture of not making excuses, as did his involvement in a staff match before the squad flew out.

The 44-year-old former Spain World Cup winner was on the winning side and set up most of the goals.

Having already completed a substantial amount of fitness work for his players at home, including gruelling double sessions at the club's Cobham training base in the weeks leading up to the tour, Chelsea used the trip to focus on key tactical elements despite the demands of travel and fatigue.

Como sign defender Chalobah from Chelsea

Hands-on approach and one-to-one sessions

Chelsea had done plenty of work to mitigate those demands. As well as hiring a private Airbus A340, the club immediately switched players on to Sydney time and instructed them to sleep after meals during the journey, which included a stop at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake, Sri Lanka, before landing in Australia.

Training at Sky Park, home of Sydney FC, they had access to a compact but high-quality training facility, in addition to an open session at Allianz Stadium that was relatively low in intensity.

The session nevertheless offered an insight into Alonso's hands-on approach. He regularly demonstrated his passing ability, while testing players such as Estevao Willian by encouraging him to cross on his weaker right foot for team-mates to finish.

Alonso also smashed a 25-yard half-volley into the net at the end of the same session - a reminder of the qualities that made him one of the game's best midfielders during spells at Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

England defender Levi Colwill confessed he was "jealous" of how well Alonso could "spray balls around".

"The manager was a great player, one of the best of his generation," added midfielder Romeo Lavia. "You see that when he steps into a training session.

"He starts pinging balls around in a way only those who have played at the top level can. It's a privilege to be working with him, especially as a midfielder."

Australia's rugby union head coach, and Chelsea supporter, Les Kiss visited after making the short walk from his team's headquarters and exchanged shirts with Alonso.

There were a number of 16 and 17-year-olds in the group, notably Sydney-born Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli, who emerged as one of the tour's breakout performers with a series of impressive midfield displays.

He also attracted considerable interest from the Australian media, given his mother's links to the city and the prospect of representing the national team in the future, despite playing for England Under-17s.

Younger players were given time off to visit the cinema, go on boat trips and take in the local culture while table tennis, darts and computer games were available at the team's luxury hotel, which overlooked Darling Harbour.

It was a quieter part of the trip when Chelsea and Tottenham players, who they faced in front of 80,000 fans on Saturday, were given the freedom to explore.

There were organised sponsor events near Bondi Beach, while another activity was a group visit to North Sydney Pool beneath the Harbour Bridge, where players completed a gym session before being allowed to enjoy the spa and Olympic-sized swimming pool. Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez also appeared on breakfast TV before the match.

Colwill described it as a fantastic team-bonding trip, although the 6-4 win over Western Sydney Wanderers and 2-1 defeat by Tottenham suggested it was still early days in terms of what Alonso was building.

Insiders said it initially felt similar to Mauricio Pochettino's regime, with a heavy focus on fitness, but tactical ideas were introduced as senior players returned from international duty.

In the first three matches, Alonso changed little about the 4-2-3-1 approach favoured by Maresca and later used during Liam Rosenior's short-lived spell in charge.