Liam Rosenior Under Pressure After Chelsea’s Fifth Straight Scoreless Defeat

Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior says players lacked ‘desire, spirit and courage’

Furious Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior said his side were “nowhere near the levels” after a 3-0 defeat to Brighton. The Blues sit seventh, seven points off fifth, with an FA Cup semi vs. Leeds next.

Chelsea’s Champions League hopes took a hit with a 3-0 loss to Brighton. Rosenior blasted his team’s work ethic amid sack chants...

Liam Rosenior called Chelsea’s 3-0 loss to Brighton “unacceptable” as the furious Blues manager accused his players of lacking “desire, spirit and courage.”

 

Rosenior’s side were blown away at the Amex Stadium on Tuesday, with goals from Ferdi Kadioglu, Jack Hinshelwood and Danny Welbeck leaving their Champions League hopes in tatters.

It is the first time Chelsea have lost five straight league games without scoring since 1912.

Beaten in seven of their last eight games across all competitions, the Blues have only one win in their past nine league matches.

  

Chelsea sit seventh, seven points behind fifth-placed Liverpool in the race for a top-five finish and a Champions League spot.

Rosenior, who heard chants calling for his sacking from angry Chelsea fans, put the blame on his players in a remarkable post-match tirade.

“I have defended the players at times when it was the correct thing but I can't defend that performance. It doesn't represent this football club, it doesn't represent anything I ask from the group and that has to change,” he said.

“I feel numb I'm so angry. I always speak on what I see and that was unacceptable. The goals we conceded were unacceptable and that is something I have to hold my hands up to.

“Tonight was not tactical. This was about desire, spirit, courage and I did not see enough of that.

“Nowhere near good enough and we have to improve that.”

Rosenior’s team risk missing out on European football entirely unless they end their wretched run.

They face Leeds in the FA Cup semifinals on Sunday, knowing a loss at Wembley could push Rosenior to the brink of the sack just months after he arrived from Strasbourg to replace Enzo Maresca in January.

  

'Not good enough'

When asked how he can turn things around at Chelsea, Rosenior said: “I have my own ideas. I am not here to make excuses. That was unacceptable from everyone involved, and it starts with me. That has to change.”

“It was nowhere near the levels. Tackles, duels, intensity, spirit, energy, passion all lacking and that is the reason we lost.

“I will look at the team, will look at individuals and I will look at a team I can trust to do the basics of football.

“It is something we have to adjust very quickly. It is accountability.”

Rosenior said this week that Chelsea’s owners have been “magnificent” in their support despite the team’s alarming slump.

 

Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali said the club remain optimistic about long-term success under Rosenior.

 

But the atmosphere around Chelsea is becoming increasingly toxic.

Blues defender Trevoh Chalobah added to the sense of disharmony when he offered a very different take from Rosenior on the team’s work ethic.

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“I thought personally that the boys were running their socks off. Everyone in the changing room is tired. It's nothing to do with effort. We gave it our all, we just got beat,” he said.

“We ran today. You can say the stats this, the stats that, but I can see the boys are tired.”

Insisting Chelsea’s players were as frustrated as Rosenior and the fans, Chalobah added: “As players we have to be accountable for the performance.”

“We know how much the fans have been behind us and we know they are disappointed with the results.

“We have to stay positive. Negativity is not going to help. Us being negative, us dwelling on the past is not going to help the situation.”