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The full transcript from Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior's post-match press conference following the Blues' late victory over West Ham United on Saturday evening
Liam Rosenior has just completed his post-match press conference following Chelsea's dramatic 3-2 victory over West Ham United.
The Blues came from two goals down to beat the Hammers in a thriller at Stamford Bridge, with Enzo Fernandez scoring a stoppage time winner in front of the Matthew Harding Stand. Rosenior has just reflected on another win for Chelsea and here is every word the head coach had to say:
What did you learn about your team in the first half and what about the second half?
My biggest learning is there's a spirit and a fight and a resilience in this group that I really, really like. I've demanded from the first day of stepping in. We don't have many training sessions, but we spoke about reacting positively to setbacks. We've spoken about reactions to losing the ball, pressing, energy, intensity. All of that was there in the second half, which wasn't there in the first half. I don't put that just down to the changes I made. It's very difficult. We've had so many games in a short space of time. I was fearful of a lack of energy and not energy or lack of application, but I felt our decision-making was really poor in the first half. When to keep the ball, when we pressed, we were just too far off it. West Ham were by far the better team. We had a reaction at half-time. The reaction of the team in the second half tells me that we've got something really, really special here if I can utilise the squad in the correct way.
Do you have any concerns with the starting line-up? You made seven changes...
No, I think, being honest, I thought individually, collectively, our first-half performance was nowhere near the level that it needed to be and should be. The individuals came off and then people will look at them. That wasn't on them. It was a collective. There was a collective poor performance in the first half. Those players know with me, I make early changes. It doesn't mean that all of a sudden they're out of my thoughts at all. It was just a really lethargic performance in the first half, but the second half was everything I wanted to see.
Starting slow is not something new. Is this something you were aware of coming in?
To be in four competitions still in February, where you're playing every three days, the Champions League, Carabao Cup we have on Tuesday, the Premier League, FA Cup, you need a squad. You need a really, really good squad. I feel I have that just because the first half performance today was really poor. And West Ham, by the way, were very good as well. I have to give them credit. We knew it would be a difficult game. They've won the last three in a row. For me, what I need to do is make sure I want to get the first half team right and the second half team right. But I also want to win games. So that's something we'll look at. But hopefully this is a huge breakthrough for the squad. Someone's just told me it's the first time in Premier League history we've won from 2-0 down at home. It's a massive thing to do against a side in good form. So a lot of positives, a lot of things we need to improve. I'm not shying away from that. But to see the heart, the mentality, the spirit of the group and their quality in the second half makes me a very, very happy man.
At half-time there was audible discontent from the crowd as well. Sometimes, as a team, do you need that as well to really hammer home what needs to change?
I have to say the fans were magnificent in the second half. I could sense after two minutes of the second half they were with us. They were right to boo. I would have booed us in the first half. Our performance was nowhere near the level it needed to be collectively in terms of our energy and our decision-making. That's fair. So to see them after the game, 45 minutes later, so happy and delighted with what they saw from the team makes me very proud. I said to the players at half-time, we can make what probably is the worst feeling of the season the best feeling of the season. And I think they went out and performed magnificently in the second half.
Trevoh Chalobah was arguing with a fan at half-time. Did you know about that?
He definitely didn't at the end of the game when the whole stadium were cheering his performance. Trevoh was excellent. Look, this is a club with huge demands. The fans pay fortunes to watch us play. They demand the minimum that we win duels. We've run for each other and I felt in the first half that wasn't there. But I have to say, I have to give credit to the team, the subs who came on. Enzo Fernandez was magnificent for 95 minutes. And we showed in the end what the fans demand in terms of what we give to this club.
The fans are obviously a bit volatile, but that isn't actually normal for this club. I think it's because of the changes recently and that they feel that this club is in a strange period. It's sort of on you now, isn't it?
It's on me, it's on me. I hope in time they'll say it's the best decision this club's ever made. But I can't focus on that. This is a really proud club with an incredible tradition, history, recent history of winning trophies. They want that and I want that too. So for a start, for a manager to come in midway through a season with not many sessions and have six wins out of seven games. It's not a bad way to start. As long as the team showed a fight and the energy and the intensity that they did in that second half, the fans showed that they'll be with us and they'll support us. And I'm really enjoying being part of this football club.
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