Paul Merson makes clear Arne Slot firing point in 'madness' attack on Chelsea

• 

• Liverpool FC News
• Features
• Chelsea FC

Chelsea and Liverpool both suffered damaging defeats in their respective pushes for Champions League qualification over the weekend at Everton and Brighton

Arne Slot is under pressure at Liverpool(Image: Justin Setterfield)

Paul Merson has harshly cast doubt on Liam Rosenior's credentials to manage Chelsea following a disastrous 10-day spell for the Blues boss.

Within the space of a fortnight, Chelsea suffered four consecutive defeats across all competitions. The twin losses to Paris Saint-Germain were perhaps understandable considering the calibre of opponent, though the nature of the reversals drew heavy criticism.

However, the successive Premier League defeats against Newcastle United and Everton - during which Chelsea failed to find the net in either fixture - were received far less favorably. In his initial 19 fixtures as Blues manager, Rosenior has secured 10 victories, suffered seven defeats and recorded two draws, with Chelsea now embroiled in an intense struggle to secure next season's Champions League qualification.

Liverpool is also involved in the race for Europe's premier competition but fell to Brighton on Saturday afternoon, intensifying the pressure on Arne Slot.

Merson has queried whether Rosenior would even secure an interview for the Liverpool position should Slot face the sack. In his latest Sky Sports column, Merson stated: "It's been a bad month for Liam Rosenior at Chelsea. That's four games on the trot where they've been smacked. They can't win one game.

"There are ways of losing football matches and that was a horrible, horrible watch at Everton. It didn't look to me that the players were really on the same page as the manager.

"If Arne Slot was fired at Liverpool this week, or if Eddie Howe left Newcastle, would Strasbourg boss Liam Rosenior have got one of those two jobs? I'll go one further: would he even get an interview? It's madness.

"This Chelsea team don't sit pretty at all with the fans, who have put Rosenior under pressure from day one. But the board - whatever plan they've got - you'd think Rosenior would need to get into the top five for them to be happy."

Liam Rosenior said Chelsea's 3-0 loss to Everton was the "most disappointing" of his time in charge of the Blues

Slot meanwhile is feeling the pressure after the defeat to Brighton and said afterwards: "It makes complete sense if you win the league and you spend that the expectations are high. Those expectations were high for the pundits, for the media, for me, for the fans.

"At our club we’re also looking at the situation and the challenge we had during this season, and then we might be a bit more realistic, why the season has gone the way it has gone.

"But still it’s not good enough no matter how much excuses I can come up with, it’s still not good enough for the position you’re in right now.”