What Chelsea fans did to Liam Rosenior speaks volumes as new boss sweats over triple injury blow

Liam Rosenior started life as Chelsea head coach with a bang as his side hit five past Charlton Athletic on Saturday night to progress into the fourth round of the FA Cup

It took Chelsea supporters around 30 seconds to start voicing their discontent at The Valley on Saturday night. Eleven days since Enzo Maresca departed the club in dramatic fashion, and the Blues have played twice in that time. On both occasions, the away supporters were loud in expressing their dissatisfaction with the club’s ownership.

Roman Abramovich's name was chanted less than a minute in. Not all of the 3000-plus travelling supporters chanted the Russian billionaire's name but it echoed around the home of Charlton Athletic. For Liam Rosenior, there is not a lot he can do. It is not his fault and Chelsea supporters know that.

Chants of "Liam, Liam, Liam" came from the fans when Rosenior made his way over to the Jimmy Seed Stand. The newly-appointed Blues head coach was clearly relishing the moment as he applauded the fans for their support.

All Rosenior can do is control what happens on the pitch. And while not all of that was perfect on Saturday night, a lot of it was good. In the second-half, there were times the attacking play was excellent.

"If your fans are happy, it means you're doing a good job," said Rosenior when asked post-match about supporters voicing their discontent. "All I am going to focus on at the moment is working as hard as I possibly can to help this team achieve the potential, the unlimited potential that it has.

"And if you concentrate and focus on your work, hopefully people will see that we’re onto a good thing."

There were elements of Chelsea's shape on Saturday that were reminiscent of what we saw from Maresca. Rosenior did not want to make any drastic changes and set his side up in a 4-2-3-1 formation from the start. But as soon as the Blues had possession - and they finished with 74% of the ball - they would move to a three-man defence.

Josh Acheampong would tuck in slightly from right-back and help form a three-man back line with Tosin Adarabioyo and Benoit Badiashile. Jorrel Hato, the other full-back, would advance and become the left-sided No.10, with Facundo Buonanotte the other attacking player behind the striker for the visitors in Charlton.

Essentially, Rosenior deployed a 3-2-2-3 for the majority of the match as Chelsea had the ball for the majority of the match. Rosenior hoped having an extra No.10 would help the Blues break down Charlton’s back five. Considering Hato, the extra man so to speak, was the player who broke the deadlock, it certainly worked for the Chelsea boss.

When Tosin headed in from close range in the early stages of the second-half, it seemed an almost-impossible task for the Addicks to get back into the FA Cup third round tie. Former Chelsea academy player Miles Leaburn gave Charlton a bit of hope, though, on 57 minutes.

Marc Guiu, who Rosenior was immensely pleased with during his post-match press conference, restored Chelsea’s two-goal advantage just five minutes later. Stoppage time became a bit chaotic. The sort of chaos Chelsea will welcome, with Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez wrapping up the dream start for Rosenior.

Considering the new boss had just two training sessions with the squad he inherited, there were plenty of positive signs. Charlton was a potentially tricky tie. Away ties in the FA Cup can be that, just ask Crystal Palace. Though it did always seem the perfect match for Rosenior to kick off his tenure at Stamford Bridge. And so it proved.

Next up for the Blues is a much more difficult task, though, with Arsenal coming to west London on Wednesday evening in the first-leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final. Rosenior will be sweating on the fitness of a key trio in Cole Palmer, Malo Gusto and Reece James, who were all left out of Saturday night's travelling squad.

"Malo, Cole and Reece were precautionary [omissions] today," said the Chelsea head coach. "I don't want to take any risks at this stage of the season. They had minor tweaks or knocks from the Fulham game.

"I feel like I have got such a good squad here. I don't need to risk their health at the moment. We have a huge game on Wednesday, we have a huge game on Saturday, and I'll check the medical reports tonight and tomorrow morning and see how we are then."

Rosenior will be desperate to have all three available but Saturday night, where some of the fringe players starred for the Blues, was really encouraging. If the head coach is not sure on the fitness of Palmer, Gusto and James, then he knows there are hungry players waiting in the wings to prove a point to their new gaffer.