Liam Rosenior makes Alejandro Garnacho promise as fresh Chelsea opportunity awaits
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Liam Rosenior insists Chelsea winger Alejandro Garnacho is "going to get his opportunities" in the coming weeks ahead of Wednesday's Premier League clash with Aston Villa.
It has been close to two months since Rosenior took over at Chelsea, and his team selection has become more stable.
Instead of chopping and changing his first eleven, Rosenior has mostly stuck to using certain key players and only rotated the team when needed.
Garnacho, unfortunately, is not among these regular starters.
Rosenior has put more emphasis on controlling the midfield in games, and it has come at the expense of the wingers, including Garnacho.
"Garna is a top player," said Rosenior in his press conference on Monday.
"I’ve changed a little bit tactically since I've come in; I've wanted to dominate midfield areas.
"That has meant at times I've only played with one winger, but Garna is an outstanding player.
"What I've really liked in this period is his reaction to not starting. He's been training very well and showed real positivity when he came on against Arsenal (on Sunday)."
Rosenior was obviously referring to his decision to deploy Enzo Fernandez in an attacking midfield role alongside Cole Palmer, often leaving Chelsea with only one conventional winger in the line-ups.
Given that Pedro Neto, who could play both on the left and on the right, and Estevao have also competed for this one winger spot, Garnacho has not had many opportunities in the last month.
The Argentina international has only featured four times since February, only one of which (against Hull City) was as a starter.
Pedro Neto's suspension, following his two yellow cards against Arsenal, however, as well as Estevao and Jamie Gittens' injuries, may present Garnacho the opportunity to prove himself.
Rosenior insisted that he plans to do so.
"We have got to take into account that Garna is 21 – he's got huge ability and huge potential," the Chelsea head coach explained.
"For any young player, the biggest thing to be challenged is your consistency level, but he's showing really good signs, not just in training but in meetings, that he's on a really good track.
"He’s definitely going to get his opportunities to play with the schedule we've got coming up."
Gerry Crisandy is a freelance writer who has covered Chelsea for many years. His work has been published on The Chelsea Chronicle and Pride of London. He grew up idolising Michael Ballack and is a firm believer in expected goals.