Liam Rosenior is surprised by the level of scrutiny that comes with being Chelsea boss and says his behaviour would be analysed if he “breathed or sneezed wrong”.
Rosenior has come in for criticism this week after three successive defeats, two in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain and one at home to Newcastle in the Premier League. Fans were quick to highlight a moment against PSG on Tuesday night when, with six minutes to go and Chelsea 8-2 down on aggregate, Rosenior handed a note to winger Alejandro Garnacho during a break in play.
The move was widely derided with the game long since gone. Former Blues defender Franck Lebouef described it as “insane” while the experienced Fabio Capello claimed Rosenior was “out of his mind”.
Rosenior brushed off the general criticism but did concede the level of attention his every move generates had caught him off guard.
“It doesn’t affect me. I’m aware of it. Of course, it’s my job to be aware of what’s being said about the football club, about my team. Am I surprised? No. The level, maybe,” he said. “But the reality now is that I need to help this club and I need to help my players perform to win games of football. And if I don’t, then maybe if I breathe wrong or sneeze wrong, it’s going to be spoken about.”
My message is getting through – Chelsea boss Rosenior
Garnacho looked a little bemused when being shown the note but Rosenior dismissed suggestions that was indicative of a player struggling to understand his manager’s instructions.
He added: “We’re five goals down. The lads were disappointed. It’s normal. There will always be a narrative when a team doesn’t perform or get the result that they want. But that’s not the case.
“We’ve had 18 games together in 10 weeks. They’ve shown at times that they have a clear understanding of what we want to do in a different way and at times, which is normal in this period, it’s not going to go completely to plan. In terms of the game on Tuesday night, it didn’t go the way we wanted it to. But me handing out a note is not a reflection of my message not getting through to the players.”
The Chelsea mole has been found
It hasn’t just been on-field matters that have been a distraction for Chelsea this week with the club having to cope with a mole leaking team news before both games against PSG.
Rosenior says that issue has now been resolved.
“We know [who it is]. And it’s not come from any place of malicious intent to me or to the team,” he said. “We’ve dealt with the situation.”
Fernandez happy at Chelsea – Rosenior
Chelsea go to Everton on Saturday looking to reignite their bid to finish in a Champions League qualifying spot.
Enzo Fernandez is likely to start in midfield, despite admitting in midweek he did not know if he would still be at the club next season.
The Argentina international would have no shortage of suitors if he decided to move on but Rosenior insists the club-record signing is happy at Stamford Bridge.
“I had a great conversation with Enzo at length this morning before training, not just about his comments, just how he was feeling, how as a team we can improve,” he said. “He’s one of the captains of the club. What I would say is that he made it really, really clear to me how happy he is here at this club, how much he wants to win, how passionate he is for us to be successful. And he also said that in translation and in emotion, things get misconstrued in what he said.
“So for me, he’s fully committed to this group, he’s fully committed to winning here at this football club.”
Chelsea will be without several players at the Hill Dickinson Stadium at the weekend with Trevoh Chalobah expected to miss six weeks with an ankle injury, Reece James and Filip Jorgensen not expected back until after the international break and Levi Colwill still recovering from a torn ACL.
