Chelsea verdict on 'drowning' Liam Rosenior as vote decides to sack under-fire head coach

Liam Rosenior appears to be running out of time to turn things around at Chelsea

Liam Rosenior faces an incredibly uncertain future at Chelsea. Behdad Eghbali was in attendance at the Amex Stadium on Tuesday night as Brighton cruised past the Blues, who have now lost five successive league games without scoring for the first time since November 1912.

Chelsea have slumped to seventh in the English top-flight, and could fall into the bottom half of the table by Monday evening. The west Londoners are in grave danger of failing to qualify for the Conference League, let alone the Europa League or even the Champions League.

They have some difficult fixtures on the horizon too, with a trip to Wembley Stadium on the cards this weekend. Once Chelsea lock horns with Leeds United in the FA Cup semi-final, they'll quickly turn their attention back to the Premier League.

In May, the Blues will face Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, and Sunderland. Although three of the four teams are currently below Chelsea in the table, two are in a relegation battle, and the other could still qualify for European football.

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With so much still at stake, journalists at football.london have debated whether the Blues should sack Rosenior.

John Cross

Chelsea cannot sack another manager a little over 100 days since appointing him. If they believed in Liam Rosenior on January 6 then they should have the courage of their convictions and stick with him.

He is a bright young coach, Rosenior even has admirers at the Football Association but in hindsight - which is a wonderful thing - would suggest Chelsea is the wrong club at the wrong time.

The biggest issue here is not the club, the owners or even the players who did not look like they were playing for him at Brighton. It is the fans. Once you lose the match-going fans then you are done. The defeat at Brighton was the first time the fans have turned their sights on Rosenior. Until now, it has been the owners.

But for the fans to turn on Rosenior leaves him horribly exposed. It feels like there is no way back for him now. Five defeats in the league without a goal. That - together with missing out on the Champions League - is what gets managers the sack at Chelsea.

But if they pull the trigger now then they should scrap the whole project. Long contracts. Young players and revolving door transfer policy. The Rosenior decision is not just about him - it’s about the future of the club.

Andy Dunn

There is a reason Enzo Maresca is still so highly-regarded in the very upper echelons of professional football. He walked into Chelsea, lifted a couple of trophies (the UEFA Conference League and Club World Cup) and won a fair few games (55 of his 92 in charge) before meeting the inevitable fate of all managers at Stamford Bridge.

It is a place where modern coaches go to be embarrassed and take a payoff. And that is what is about to happen to Liam Rosenior. Forget how he comes across in his media engagements - that is largely irrelevant.

How he comes across in the dressing room and on the training ground is what matters. And it is quite clear, to use street parlance, his players are not having him.

That reflects much more badly on them than on him, for sure. But there is still only one outcome when a team ‘chucks it,’ as the Chelsea team at Brighton so obviously did.

They don’t get the sack. The manager does. And that is what is going to happen at Chelsea.

Patrick Austen-Hardy

If Liam Rosenior is sacked, then co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley must follow him out. The two co-sporting directors are the ones who wield the transfer power.

Enzo Maresca was understandably upset when the club did not sign another central defender and considering Chelsea's soft-centre and inability to defend set-pieces and, well, pretty much everything, the Italian has a point. Stewart and Winstanley have spent like Manchester City but behaved like Brighton - and now the team is much worse than the latter.

Billions have been forked out, yet they are signing young, unproven talent for kings' ransoms. The travelling fans turned on Rosenior and that alone may cost him his job, just as it did for Graham Potter.

But the whole project of signing young players from around the world and hoping to sell for a profit is akin to purchasing random crypto and praying you've found the next Bitcoin - and like most hopeful digital currency punts, the Blues' stock is nose-diving.

Kieran King

For me, Liam Rosenior has to be SACKED right now. I don't think the issues are entirely his fault, but it's clear he hasn't got the presence and credentials to manage a club the size of Chelsea.

I have no doubt that Rosenior is a top coach, as he proved during his time at Hull City and Strasbourg, but I think the Chelsea job has proven to be a step too far for him and the Blues should relieve him from position now.

If they don't, I genuinely don't think Chelsea will qualify for any European competition next season. One win in nine has pushed them outside the top six and I can't see another victory in the remaining four league matches.

As well as that, Chelsea have an FA Cup semi-final to contend with but, given the way the Blues are playing at the moment, I fancy Leeds United to get the job done at Wembley and progress through to the final.

But if a new manager is put in situ for at least the short-term, he could get a bounce from what is a talented group of players and get them over the line. I'd try and tempt Cesc Fabregas back to west London.

Bobby Vincent

Last night was damning. A really worrying evening for Rosenior. It is difficult for any head coach to come back from such nights.The match-going supporters completely turned against Rosenior. The toxic atmosphere took another turn. It very much felt like the end.

However, it is such awful timing for the Blues. A huge FA Cup semi-final awaits this weekend and whatever decision they end up making will have a massive impact on the trip to Wembley. If the backing for Rosenior is still there, then there's no decision to make. If not, will it be Calum McFarlane as interim again?

Sunday could very well be Rosenior's last chance. Can he salvage something from the season? Can he rescue his job?I think it's gone too far the other way, unfortunately. Rosenior looks like he is drowning out there.

Jeremy Cross

Liam Rosenior talks the talk, but is unable to walk the walk when it comes to producing a winning team. In truth, Rosenior has strutted straight into a massive punch on the nose, in terms of managing Chelsea.

It's like groundhog day at Stamford Bridge. Remember when Graham Potter was appointed, believing himself to be a good coach ready to take that next step up to a big club? Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Potter was chewed up and spat out. And now the same thing is happening to Rosenior. He only took charge in the second week of January, but has lost 10 games already.

The bottom line is this. His methods are not being accepted by the players. And players get you sacked. Chelsea can't score goals or stop them. And that is a damning combination which Rosenior is responsible for.

He has to go.

Matt Maltby

Rosenior has to go. It's quite clear he's not the only one to blame for this crisis - and the Blues' hierarchy must take responsibility for letting the fans down with their transfer approach.But the performance at Brighton was appalling. They didn't manage a single shot on target, the first time they've managed that since February 2025 which, ironically, was in a 3-0 defeat at the Amex Stadium.They have now lost five successive league games without scoring for the first time since November 1912, while their overall five-game losing streak is their longest in the Premier League since November 1993.The stats are humiliating and it's just hard to see how Rosenior gets his players back on side. They needed a response against Brighton and fans got the opposite.

An awful performance that summed up their crisis. They need new ideas - and quickly.

Ryan Taylor

I think Liam Rosenior has got to go - even if his struggles are not solely his fault. Chelsea's players need to take a look at themselves in the mirror and BlueCo ought to do the same.

Rosenior is a likeable guy but he skipped a crucial step his coaching career before jumping into a top job like Chelsea. You can't blame him for accepting the role but he needed to either stay at Strasbourg or join a Brentford, Fulham or Bournemouth to build some extra experience and sharpen his tools before managing a club of Chelsea's stature.

I don't see how he can stay on with the Blues because they need to push as hard as they can for Champions League or Europa League qualification and on current form, they could slide into the bottom half.

The only stipulation is that there are no outstanding candidates ready and waiting to take on the position.

Jake Stokes

Chelsea should sack Liam Rosenior. Although the 41-year-old isn't entirely at fault, with the players and those above him just as culpable for the Blues' downfall, he clearly hasn't got the respect of the dressing room, so someone needs to come in and try to turn things around.

If the Chelsea hierarchy were that bothered about qualifying for the Champions League, they would have sacked Rosenior following the defeat to Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium back in March. Now, a place in Europe's top-flight competition is out of reach.

Even qualification to at least the Conference League looks unlikely at the moment. Behdad Eghbali and the Blues' sporting directors have had an absolute mare, and they should follow the head coach out of the door at the end of the season.

Ultimately, the season is still somewhat salvageable. Chelsea can still win the FA Cup. Will it happen? Probably not, but an interim manager could give the squad a new lease of life in the final weeks of the season and, at least, seal a place in the Europa League.

Alex Richards

Liam Rosenior slammed Chelsea's performance at Brighton as "indefensible", "unacceptable" and a whole host of adjectives as he shook with anger while fronting up to Sky Sports.

How much longer he's going to have to front up is the question. Five straight losses, five games without scoring, all since Paul Tierney stood in the middle of their pre-game attempt to "respect the ball".

Rosenior has lost 10 games in 23 already. He's got a team of players that appear to like to talk big but have long forgotten to back it up with their actions. At Brighton, they were as bad as they've been.

Is that on Rosenior? Possibly. Possibly not. But it's easier to sack a manager than an entire squad. Especially one where under-performing players are on long contracts that few other clubs will be willing to take on.

He's protected his players. On Tuesday night, he went for them. When that happens, the writing is on the wall and it's a matter of when, not if.

He might not get sacked in the coming days. But time already looks to be running out. And really, it should be up.

Credit to Enzo Maresca. He got in, won some trophies, and got out before this house of cards could crash around him, his reputation firmly intact.

Unfortunately for Rosenior, his sense of timing, as well as his ability to get a tune out of this particular squad, to organise it and get it playing anywhere near as good as its players think they are, has been found badly wanting.