1 hour ago
15
The main talking points and moments missed from Stamford Bridge after Chelsea fell to a deflating 3-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City on Sunday evening
Nobody said it would be easy. Liam Rosenior knew it wouldn't be easy. Graham Potter, whether he was right or not, described managing Chelsea as the "hardest job in football" back in January 2023, just over four months into his short reign at Stamford Bridge.
Rosenior has not quite managed four months yet but he is approaching that mark - and he might be starting to think Potter has a point. It is now five defeats in their last six games in all competitions for Chelsea, who took a big blow in their bid for Champions League football with a thumping defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.
Rosenior is not shocked by what he has walked into. The 41-year-old, who replaced Enzo Maresca as head coach early in January, knew the difficulties of the challenge when making the move over from fellow BlueCo club Strasbourg. He has insisted that over and over, but there must be a bit of a shock at how things have unfolded in the last month.
FOLLOW OUR CHELSEA FB PAGE! Latest Blues news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
The Chelsea boss namechecked Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp in what felt like a plea for time in the aftermath of the 3-0 defeat to Man City, yet also conceded that at a club of the Blues' size, short-term success is a must. "I need to win in this moment," a brutally honest Rosenior said. "This is a huge football club.
"When I first came, I never asked for a lot of time because I understand this club; I understand the traditions and the history of this club. I would like to have that time and I'm confident that in that time, you can create something very, very special within the time that it takes, which even someone as experienced as Pep or Jurgen Klopp when he won titles at Liverpool, they had a year to sort things out.
"I came in January. It's not an excuse. It's the reality. I need to win in the now and that's what I will be focused on."
He's got a point. It was never going to be straightforward arriving in January. Yes, there was a transfer window in January but it never felt like the perfect opportunity for Chelsea. Having no pre-season is always detrimental for managers but, as Rosenior said, it should not be an excuse.
Rosenior has referenced in a few press conferences over this dire run of results that Chelsea, whose transfer policy under BlueCo has been youth-focused, need players who can react positively to adversity. He has always been honest about that and repeated himself on Sunday: "What you can't do is concede two goals in the manner that we did [vs Man City] so quickly, one after the other. And again, it comes down to resilience in difficult moments and seeing those moments through and making sure you're still in the game."
It was a similar message after Paris Saint-Germain away from home, and at the start of April, Rosenior detailed the club's plans for the summer transfer window. He said: "[To] bring in players with emotional stability, different characters who can, in difficult moments, understand what is needed to win."
While he didn't mention mentality specifically, Rosenior was quite open in his comments on Chelsea's transfer plans for the upcoming summer in his post-match presser. "Even over the last week, we've had lots of detailed conversations about what we need to look like moving forward," said the Chelsea head coach.
"You talk about the different aspects of the game, physicality, technicality, positional things. They're all things that we're in talks about and we know what we want to improve and we know where we want to improve in the summer."
On the flipside, Man City have an unwavering mentality - one that is so admirable. So often this City side, managed by one of the greatest ever in Guardiola, showcase what they are made of, technically and mentally, in the final months of the season.
City were under more pressure than Chelsea going into the game. They've got a title race to think about and Guardiola's side knew they had to take advantage of a slip up from leaders Arsenal little over 24 hours before.
The likes of Erling Haaland, Rodri and Bernardo Silva all stood up and made themselves counted in the second half especially. They have all been there and done that. Their mentality is faultless.
It is what Chelsea are striving to one day be. The Blues are a long, long way off that, though. Not only do Rosenior's side have a tendency to collapse when they concede one goal, there are smaller things that emphasise their erratic nature.
In the grand scheme of things, Estevao Willian's yellow card 26 minutes into the game is not important but it once again showed Chelsea's discipline problem when things are not going their way. Estevao was caught offside, needlessly, as he fell into the trap set up by City with their aggressively high line. The Brazilian petulantly kicked the ball away and was rightly shown a yellow card. It was ultimately a tiny thing in the game as a whole but it certainly left Rosenior furious. The Chelsea head coach turned around with a seething look on his face after a completely unnecessary caution for Estevao.
Ultimately, there seems to be a lack of maturity and mental fortitude within the Chelsea ranks. Rosenior has got to somehow instill that in this group of players otherwise they will miss out on Champions League football, which will surely be a big fear for the club at the moment.
Not only would Chelsea miss out on the hefty financial gains a club receives for qualifying for Europe's elite competition, but attracting their summer transfer targets will naturally become more difficult.
In reality, if Chelsea do not fix up, they could miss out on qualifying for any European football at all next season. The Blues have lost three on the bounce in the Premier League and are now four points above Fulham in 12th place - the same amount of points they are behind fifth-place Liverpool.
There are a number of clubs not too far behind Chelsea, making Saturday evening's clash with Manchester United that bit more important. Failure to get a result against United and we could see new levels of toxicity inside Stamford Bridge, with supporters planning a protest against the club's ownership outside the stadium prior to kick-off.
English (US) ·