Chelsea suffered a big setback on Merseyside.
Liam Rosenior urged his Chelsea players to “ignore the noise” after they suffered a fourth successive defeat with a 3-0 loss to Everton on Saturday.
Chelsea travelled to Merseyside on the back of elimination from the Champions League at the hands of holders Paris Saint-Germain, with humblings in both legs of the last-16 tie coming either side of a frustrating 1-0 home loss to Newcastle United.
And Rosenior’s men were comfortably second best on their first visit to the Hill Dickinson Stadium, where Everton produced a performance that belied their largely disappointing home form this season.
Beto opened the scoring with a fine 33rd-minute finish before he doubled his tally with a low effort that squirmed through the legs of Robert Sanchez.
Illiman Ndiaye made the game safe as he scored a stunning third for the Toffees, securing a result that moved Everton within two points of sixth-placed Chelsea.
Sixth would be good enough for Champions League football next season if Aston Villa win the Europa League and finish fifth in the Premier League.
But these are suddenly worrying times for Chelsea heading into the international break.
Rosenior sends message to Chelsea
While Rosenior and his team will surely come in for criticism following a dismal end to a miserable seven days, the Blues boss does not want his players to pay attention to it.
“Goals give you energy, and at the moment we are gifting goals away,” Rosenior told Sky Sports.
“We gifted two poor goals. We started edgy, and then the first 10, 15 minutes a few cheap giveaways and then we played our way into the game and it seems to be happening every week.
“What that does is the crowd gives energy to the opposition and then their confidence goes up. In the end, Everton deserved the victory and that is something we need to improve very very quickly.”
“The first goal we gave away, we were the most comfortable, and the difference again is in both boxes were that they were clinical. The third goal from Ndiaye was a fantastic finish. We had chances, especially in the first half but if you don’t take them you’re going to end up losing games of football.
“We are a point away from the Champions League. I’m learning about this club, there has been a lot of noise, negative noise, and rightly so about our performances last week. We have had 10 games in the league together as a group, and we have 17 points. I think we are fourth in my time.
“Forget the noise, we have to keep our calm and our composure. An international break has probably come at a good time for us to restart and go again for a really good run in.”
Asked about the latest mistake in an error-strewn season by Sanchez, Rosenior replied: “I think it’s so difficult after the game to speak about an individual performance.
“Rob is a top goalkeeper and goalkeepers have days like this. Pickford makes a world-class save to keep it 1-0.
“For me it’s not a time for talking, it’s the time for me and my staff to analyse. The players will go away with the respective countries and when we come back we will have a few clear weeks for some time to work with the players for the first time.”
Chelsea’s next match is an FA Cup quarter-final at home to League One strugglers Port Vale on April 4. Their next Premier League game sees them host Manchester City at Stamford Bridge eight days later.
