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Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior is yet to win supporters over at Stamford Bridge but could take a big step this weekend with a crucial clash against Manchester City in his sights
Liam Rosenior has been Chelsea head coach for just over three months, yet it has felt much longer. Already, Rosenior has managed 20 matches in all competitions in such a short space of time - winning 11, losing seven and drawing two.
While seven in the 'defeat' column is far too many, five of those losses have come against two of the best teams in Europe at the moment. Remarkably, Rosenior has faced Arsenal, the Premier League leaders, three times in his time as Chelsea head coach, and lost every game. Two of Rosenior's defeats have come against reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain, losing both legs of the Champions League last-16 tie by eight goals to two on aggregate.
And while being beaten by arguably the best side in the world in PSG should never be the end of the world, a couple of selection decisions made by Rosenior seemed to contribute massively. Firstly, the Chelsea head coach used Filip Jorgensen in the first-leg defeat in Paris and the goalkeeper demonstrated why he is not quite at the level required to be playing Champions League knockout football.
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In the second leg, Rosenior brought in Mamadou Sarr on the right-hand side of defence at Stamford Bridge. While Rosenior explained post-match that Sarr had played in a similar position during their Strasbourg days, it seemed to be an awkward position for the Senegal international, who was at fault for PSG's opener on the night.
It did feel a bit like Rosenior was overthinking the PSG games in particular. It's understandable in many ways; so many people have doubted Rosenior since his appointment and have questioned whether he is the right man to succeed Enzo Maresca. Rightly or wrongly, in many people's eyes, Rosenior has a point to prove.
This weekend, the Chelsea head coach, who has been at Stamford Bridge for just over three months now, welcomes Pep Guardiola and Manchester City to west London in an enormous match for the Blues. While City are looking to close the gap on leaders Arsenal, Chelsea are looking for their first point(s) in more than a month.
Coming up against Guardiola is always going to be a big thing for any manager, particularly a young one like Rosenior, who is trying to prove himself among Europe's best. Rosenior will have some sort of ace up his sleeve to try and catch Guardiola out with, like he tried twice against PSG. This time, Rosenior needs to make the right call because it is such an enormous game for Chelsea in the context of their Premier League season.
Also, it's a huge encounter for Rosenior to almost make a statement to the rest of the division. Some supporters of other clubs do not seem to take Rosenior seriously and the only way he can change that is by winning.
As well as this, there has been so much outside noise surrounding Chelsea and their players recently - fuelled by Enzo Fernandez and Marc Cucurella publicly questioning the club's project. Rosenior acknowledged last week that the only way to restore faith in the project is by winning: "I need to win, I need to win. We haven't won in the last four games [speaking before the Port Vale win].
"Faith in any project comes from results. When I first came in, our results were on a good trajectory. As soon as you don't win games of football at any club, regardless of the project, people lose faith. So we have to restore that. I'm aware.
"There is a lot of noise at the moment outside this football club, not from within. I get it, it's a massive football club. There is a reality of where we are and there is a reality of where we want to get to. The reality is we are not far away. We are not far away from getting to where we want to be.
"So for me, restoring faith is doing the job I need to do on the training ground, in the meetings, on the training pitch, in the relationships I have with the players. Then that shows on the pitch and faith is restored when we win games of football."
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