“Chelsea today parted ways with their head coach, Liam Rosenior. We would like to express our gratitude to Liam and his team for all their efforts during their time with the club. (…) The club did not take this decision lightly, but recent results and performances have fallen short of expectations, while the season is still long. Chelsea wish Liam every success for the future”. On Wednesday evening, Chelsea announced the dismissal of Liam Rosenior, after only three months at the helm of the Blues.
And this, even though he had signed a five and a half year contract. The sporting crisis experienced by the Blues – five defeats in the last five days of the Premier League – and this terrible eighth position in the Premier League standings got the better of the former Racing man. But as revealed by BBC in an article that is both interesting and a little dismaying, one that is described as“LinkedIn coach” by his trolls across the Channel was not helped at all by its players.
He never convinced his players
Indeed, from the outset, the Chelsea players were not necessarily convinced by his profile, in particular because of his lack of experience in the Premier League. This was especially true among the Spanish-speaking contingent of the team, who were very skeptical about his appointment. The names of Enzo Fernandez and Marc Cucurella are mentioned. Only the clan of English players were more or less on Rosenior’s side, at least initially. But generally speaking, the players never adhered to the methods or the leadership of the English manager. The various leaks or media outings noted, from Fernandez concerning Madrid in particular, can be explained precisely by a lack of overall respect from the players towards their coach.
Sources close to the players also indicate that initially, Rosenior seemed to want to follow the guideline marked by Enzo Maresca, but that it was when he decided to change things and impose his method that he alienated the players. Certain tactical choices were also debated internally, such as an approach that was perhaps a little too kamikaze against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. If Rosenior had difficulty gaining the respect of the players, what can we say about his staff. His deputy James Walker, for example, was nicknamed “replacement teacher” by one of the team players. Suffice to say that the future London coach knows that he will have to deal with a difficult locker room.
