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The full transcript from Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior's pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday evening's Premier League fixture with Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge
Liam Rosenior has just completed his pre-match press conference ahead of Chelsea's Premier League meeting with Newcastle United on Saturday evening.
Unusually, Reece James joined Rosenior for the presser after the Chelsea captain signed a new six-year contract earlier today. James fielded some questions on extending his stay at Stamford Bridge, while Rosenior reflected on Wednesday's defeat at Paris Saint-Germain and previewed tomorrow's Newcastle clash.
Here is every word Rosenior and James had to say:
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Reece, talk us through your decision to sign a new contract at Chelsea?
RJ: To be honest, it wasn't really much of a decision. I came through at this club. I love the club. I've experienced winning here and I believe there's still lots more to come in the future.
In terms of that belief, how much confidence do you have in the direction that the club is heading in over the course of the next few years?
RJ: I've spoken to everyone from the top of the club down, from ownership to sporting directors, and I'm fully behind the project and what we're trying to build.
Just how significant a piece of business is this for the club?
LR: Yeah, I can't stop smiling because we secured the best player in world football in his position. He had many, many opportunities to leave this magnificent club. The good thing is not just the size and the stature of the club. He's come through from a very, very young age, with belief and confidence in what we're doing here, where we want to go. We've had many conversations about it. For him to sign a deal and put his faith in us is a massive step.
Why do you feel like Reece is the best player in the world in that position?
LR: Do I have to explain that when you see him play? I don't want to embarrass him. He's top. When you meet Reece, you see him from afar and you admire him. He can play many different positions technically. He can score goals, he defends, he has athleticism and tactical understanding. The thing that impresses me most about him is his humility as a person. You realise why he's having and will have the career that he will go on to have as the captain of Chelsea for as long as I'm here. He'll be my leader. For me, it's been a really, really good two and a half months with him. I now understand a lot more why he is the player he is. He's going to go on to have, hopefully, a really successful career here at this club.
What's the latest on Estevao Willian and Jamie Gittens?
LR: Jamie's back involved, which is great. Este still a little bit further away. We want to be careful with Este because of the nature of his hamstring injury. We don't want it reoccurring at a crucial stage of the season. We'll see what he's like for Tuesday's game against PSG.
There's been a lot of focus on goalkeepers this week. Do you feel like the options that you have are good enough for a club the size of Chelsea?
LR: For sure. Obviously, I made a decision to play Filip [Jorgensen] against Aston Villa and his performance was outstanding and contributed to a very good win against a very good team. I think his performance for 75 minutes was magnificent. He makes a mistake and we get punished and we go on to lose a game in a manner that we definitely shouldn't have lost. Rob Sanchez is one of the best goalkeepers in the league. There's no question about those two players' quality at this level. It's more about my decision for each game and in which way I go in that position.
Bearing in mind what happened on Wednesday night, how is Filip? Is he in a position mentally to start the game again tomorrow?
LR: For sure. Everybody makes mistakes in life, in football. It's how you recover, it's how you respond to a setback. I've got no issues, no lack of trust with the two goalkeepers I have. I'm really, really looking forward to getting back on the pitch with what happened in the last 15 minutes on Wednesday.
UEFA opened an investigation after Pedro Neto pushed a ball boy on Wednesday evening. We saw he was sent off against Arsenal earlier this month. I know he's apologised, but are you concerned that he's struggling to control his emotions at a certain time on the pitch?
LR: I've seen the incident back now on, it doesn't look good in terms of... I understand Pedro's perspective. He wants to get the ball back in play as quickly as possible. He wants to win for the club. There are ways you go about it. What I was so impressed with him was for him, and it was his idea, he wanted to apologise straight away. Like I've just said, whether it's a goalkeeper, whether it's me as a manager or a player, we make mistakes. It's about learning from those mistakes and making sure they don't happen again.
Given the state of the Champions League tie against PSG, do you almost need to prioritise the Premier League more and ensure you are back in the Champions League next season?
LR: I don't prioritise any competition. The way that we play, we want to win the next game. I've seen teams come back from three goals down in the Champions League at home many times. With the amount of chances that we created in the game after analysing it back, we still have a very good chance if we can get the first goal in the first half on Tuesday night after this important game tomorrow.
It took you a while to make subs on Wednesday. What was your rationale? Did you just think the lads on the pitch were doing a good job?
LR: Sometimes it's that simple. We were in a really good place. We were in a really good place in the game. The last thing you want to do is disrupt the flow of the team in terms of making changes for the sake of making changes. At 2-2, I've watched the game back, even at the time I felt that we were in the ascendancy in that moment and then we make a mistake and it gets to 3-2 and the rest is history. I'll make changes when I feel it's the right time to make changes for the team. I don't think too far ahead for the next game. In this stage of the season, it's about the importance of each game and starting with the game tomorrow. My thoughts on the team for PSG and what that looks like hasn't even entered my head for Tuesday.
Your team have dropped a lot of points from winning positions this season. How do you make your team become more clinical?
LR: I think I've been here for two and a half months. It feels like a long time with the amount of games that we've had. How you learn from mistakes is the way I work with the players, we sit down, we go through a lot of clips. As Reece would tell you, sitting next to me a lot of times he's been in my office and sometimes it's two or three clips that you show. What you want to see after that is an improvement. I've been here for two and a half months, so it takes time. We don't have much time left. We need to learn from, especially the Leeds and Burnley games where we dropped four points from winning positions at home. If we do that with the consistency in our performances, we won 4-1 at Villa the last game, we're in a really good place to do what we want to do.
When you're making these decisions, right now, are you relying on data more, or is it more of a human decision?
LR: I don't think it's more one or the other what you do. We have an amazing analyst team, 10 people in our analytics department. You take the information from them, but you can never not go with your eye or your intuition in the moment. What affects your intuition and your eye is the data that you pick up in the week when you're assessing the games and the players that are performing. So it's a combination of both.
Enzo Fernandez throwing the ball towards Jorgensen, is that a normal reaction in elite level sport?
LR: I watched it back, I was asked about it after the game, I hadn't seen it. As a player with passion, he wants to win. Roy Keane did that probably. Roy Keane was my manager, but Roy Keane as a player probably did that 20 times a game. I want a team with a culture of accountability where we can demand from each other in the moment. Enzo loves Filip, Enzo wants the best for him, Enzo believes in him. In that moment he was frustrated with something that happened and that's normal, isn't it?
Reece, is Enzo the more aggressive leader and you're the more calming figure?
RJ: No, I mean I think we work hand in hand. He has a lot of influence on the dressing room as well, with a lot of non-English speaking players. I know we work together and ultimately we both want the best for the club and we want the team to do well.
Do you think you two could be like a long-term leadership team because you're both still young yourselves and things like that? Do you think you can grow as leaders and sort of be two of the figureheads to lead this team into a good future?
RJ: Yeah, for sure. I haven't been a captain so long. I'm still young, I'm still learning. The longer I play, the more I learn. Yeah, I just try and give my best and improve on every opportunity.
You talked about having talks with people at the top. Was part of your conversation sort of finding out the future signings and that the club will continue to strengthen and make Chelsea competitive?
RJ: I mean I wouldn't go as far as saying signings, but I wanted to make sure that the direction and vision was aligned and for sure everyone from the top to bottom is aligned and this club's ambition is to win. Every year I've been here, the club has won trophies and we're going to continue to try and do that.
You're the only member of the squad that won the Champions League obviously, a couple of trophies last season. What do you think Chelsea need to get back to winning a Champions League?
RJ: Winning major trophies like this, small details. You talk about small details and a we let a few slip the other night with the way the game ended. We'll go over that with the team, with the manager and try and adjust things for the second leg.
Just on your personal journey and we've asked about your fitness before, where are you at now in terms of what sort of fitness level?
RJ: Yeah, I had to come through a lot, two or three years of struggles and setbacks after a setback. I'm in a really good place at the moment, my body's feeling good. I'm playing on a regular basis, two or three games a week and I just try and help the team as much as I can and do what's right.
With Enzo, do you like to see players venting their anger like that on the pitch? Or is there some benefit to working things out behind closed doors?
LR: If you play football in front of 50, 60,000 people, adrenaline's running through your system and you want to win, you're going to be passionate. What I want, I want both. I want players to demand from each other, always with respect, but we sit down and we talk about it and we work things through together in the dressing room. In this social media climate now, any small thing can turn into the biggest thing, based on the amount of clicks that it gets. The reality is somewhere nowhere near as big as what it's made out to be.
Did they speak about it after?
LR: Of course, as mates, they spoke as soon as we got back in the dressing room.
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