If Rosenior Was On The Apprentice, He’d Be In The Boardroom
Trying too hard to impress Chelsea supporters? Starting unnecessary conflict with the opposition? Rocking the boat with the goalkeeper selection? Playing too open? Blaming the referee for nothing? Where do we even start here?
What could have been a refreshing appointment with a sense of new ideas is quickly turning into how many times a coach/manager can bring unwanted attention in a short space of time. If this was an episode of the Apprentice he’d have been in the boardroom on at least two occasions already.
I start off with the ‘trying too hard to impress’ - Rosenior was hired halfway through a season with Chelsea competitive in all four competitions, you can perhaps allow the Arsenal defeat, given he was only in charge for a week, but from that moment onwards you can almost get a sense he’s doing far too much, far too soon on the pitch tactically.
Just today speaking to the journalists after Chelsea’s disappointing 1-0 defeat to Newcastle United, Rosenior highlighted that his side is experiencing a tactical issue saying, “We press in a different way to most teams. It's a new way of pressing. We don't step on the press and we don't cover in a position that we should have done. Mistakes happen.” Why are we trying to overcomplicate matters in the most crucial part of the season, it’s absolute madness, like he is happy to treat this phase as a pre-season, when the next two months effectively dictate next season.
Another example of perhaps trying too much too soon was unnecessarily getting involved in a dispute during Chelsea’s trip to the Emirates. During the pre-match warm up he accused a member of the Arsenal backroom staff of showing a lack of respect because they stepped in the oppositions half. Being at Stamford Bridge today I saw Newcastle’s trainer in our half only to redeem balls as part of the warm-up. Why did Rosenior not see an issue today? I disagree with the people saying he done it for the cameras but it really is something you just don’t need to get involved in.
The goalkeeper dilemma has been a tipping point type decision which could perhaps truly earmark the day it all went wrong for Rosenior if and when he departs the club. Just two months ago Robert Sanchez was deemed the clubs prime candidate to win the player of the season award, fast forward to a minor mistake at the Emirates, Sanchez later found himself dropped for the visit to Aston Villa. Bouncing back is key but from watching the Wrexham game you could see he wasn’t his normal self and when a sense of doubt enters a goalkeeper’s mind, it becomes significantly difficult to recover from. For very little reason he has caused insecurity for one of the most important positions on the pitch. Another example of being performative.
Furthermore, perhaps the biggest annoyance of Rosenior’s time at Chelsea so far is how open we have been at the back in recent weeks. Don’t get me wrong, Chelsea’s defence is weak, overrated and has outright been a mismanagement of funds but there is also admittance that Rosenior’s style is asking for trouble. Up until the Burnley game I didn’t really sense this as a cause for concern but after watching the Aston Villa, Wrexham, PSG and now Newcastle matches, it is an accident waiting to happen and definitely not sustainable.
For the Villa game, Chelsea were lucky to not find themselves 2-1 down but a marginal offside came to the rescue, you can say clever defending but anyone who watched that game at 1-1 knew it was not sustainable. Similar can be said for Wrexham’s opening goal last Saturday but this time with a different set of defenders.
PSG, perhaps the biggest tipping point of Rosenior’s reign so far. You could almost sense the inexperience on show. Chelsea went toe to toe with PSG for 75 minutes and perhaps would have done a good job coming back to Stamford Bridge with the score level at 2-2 or in a worse case scenario a 3-2 deficit to overturn. Both more than possible but what unfolded from the 76th minute was outright a shambles. The centre backs obsession of playing backwards towards the goalkeeper against the best pressing side in Europe was an accident waiting to happen, the accident did happen and less than 20 minutes later we found ourselves 5-2 down at a cost of being so open. The complete opposite of tie management when Rosenior himself stressed the night before in his pre-match press conference that the tie was 180 minutes. We haven’t even touched on his substitutions from the match which saw both Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer come off for Lavia & Delap, one would think Chelsea were (rightly) playing for a draw or a one goal deficit by throwing on another midfielder, instead Chelsea proceeded to play as open as ever and proceeded to concede two more in stoppage time to ensure any possible comeback is below 5%.
Then we arrive at Rosenior’s latest setback, a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle, quite possibly one of the most toothless home displays I have seen in quite some time. Going 1-0 down early gives you plenty of time to get back into the game but it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it wouldn’t come as a shock if the players still thought the game was 0-0 given the response. Once again Chelsea were caught high and open with quite possibly one of the most basic goals I’ve ever seen conceded at Stamford Bridge. Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon highlighted his surprise of how open we were by telling the media after the game that Chelsea "were playing man-for-man so we knew we could get behind them, but it did seem very open.” - The second time in a week the opposition has exploited a clear weakness and a second time in a week that a team has profited from it.
The latest gimmick that is currently focusing attention away from the actual football, Rosenior claims he isn’t involved in this particular “tactic” but it’s currently making the club a laughing stock and with his ridiculous comment of “respecting the ball”. Instead of respecting the ball, how about those players respect the supporters who continue to watch this experiment. I have no complaints with how Rosenior has treated Chelsea supporters, in fact he has been one of the rare coaches to praise and applaud the supporters regardless of the result.
With Rosenior's constant mistakes since his arrival, despite some late tweaks, if this was an episode of The Apprentice, Lord Sugar would have had no choice but to fire him because these mistakes at the top level are simply unacceptable. To Rosenior's benefit, football is not The Apprentice and can still show reason why he belongs at Chelsea's head coach, firstly he needs to show why he should be here next season.
The sooner this season is over the better and the only happiness that can come to Chelsea supporters right now is a club statement saying the club are moving into a different direction. Chelsea are in desperate need of an elevation because deep down the club aren’t far away but with arrogance at the top, Chelsea are miles away.