Liam Rosenior Delivers Telling Response to Chelsea Fan Unrest

Chelsea fans made their disdain for the club’s owners evident throughout Saturday’s FA Cup win.

Liam Rosenior won his first game as Chelsea boss. / Rob Newell-CameraSport/Getty Images

Chelsea’s new head coach Liam Rosenior appeared to accept that unrest from the supporters was justified following a turbulent start to the new year and pledged to try and get the fans onside.

The Blues ran out 5–1 winners over second-tier Charlton Athletic in Rosenior’s first official game at the Chelsea helm on Saturday night. The Premier League outfit were held goalless for the first 45 minutes by their struggling Championship hosts before Jorrel Hato thrashed in the opening goal in first-half stoppage time.

Tosin Adarabioyo added a second shortly after the interval. Miles Leaburn halved the deficit from a corner—one of the avenues of concern that Rosenior had flagged pregame—but Marc Guiu struck shortly after the hour mark to restore Chelsea’s two-goal advantage. Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernández added two more in stoppage time to apply a layer of gloss to the scoreline, yet it wasn’t a result received with universal affection from the travelling fans.

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Chants against the club’s divisive ownership from The Valley’s away end could be heard throughout the FA Cup third round tie. It was put to Rosenior after the match that the fans were still unhappy. “If your fans are happy, it means you’re doing a good job,” the former Strasbourg boss replied.

Liam Rosenior is the first permanent Chelsea manager since Antonio Conte in 2016 to win his first competitive game at the club. pic.twitter.com/thflQ2nC1Y

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“All I’m 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,” Rosenior, who was not the subject of any ire (or notable support), continued. “And if you concentrate and focus on your work, hopefully people will see that we’re onto a good thing.”

The disdain from the fanbase revolves around the conduct of the owners. A recent poll from one of the most prominent supporters’ groups found that more than 90% of those surveyed expressed a lack of confidence in BlueCo’s decision making.

The strict adherence to a structure rather than star power represents a sharp contrast to how the club was run by former owner Roman Abramovich, who oversaw the capture of every available trophy with the likes of Carlo Ancelotti, José Mourinho and Antonio Conte as manager.

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Rosenior: Chelsea’s Problem Isn’t Tactical

Chelsea made light work of Charlton. / Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Getty Images

After just two days on the training pitch with his new set of players, it may not have been a huge surprise to see Rosenior adopt many of the same principles which Enzo Maresca preached. Hato tucked infield from fullback much like Marc Cucurella would, while the aggressive goalkeeper positioning which was a feature of the new boss’s Strasbourg side was not imposed upon Filip Jörgensen.

As Rosenior admitted himself: “They’ve been well coached. I’ve made no secret of that.”

Heading into Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final against Premier League-leading Arsenal, Rosenior revealed that the focus would not be on tactics. “There are other elements to football other than tactics,” he mused. “Tactics are one element. Shape, systems, technique, they’re all wonderful things. But there are other things that I feel maybe we can improve on.”

These intangibles were “reaction to setbacks” and the overall “intensity.” Those aspects and perhaps some more specific points will undoubtedly have to be addressed if Rosenior is to not only get past Arsenal, but win the support of Chelsea fans.

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