Liam Rosenior blasts Chelsea players after humiliating defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion
Liam Rosenior did not hold back in his scathing attack on his Chelsea players after their embarrassing 3-0 defeat against Brighton on Tuesday night.
The Blues manager made a difficult and emotional post-match analysis following the result which saw Chelsea fail to score for the fifth time in a row in the Premier League, a feat the club have not seen since 1912.
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Goals from Ferdi Kadıoğlu, Jack Hinshelwood, and Danny Welbeck saw Chelsea lose their fifth straight league game, a performance that warranted harsh criticism from pundits and fans alike.
Liam Rosenior is angry at the Chelsea players
Speaking to Match of the Day, a visibly shaken Rosenior labeled the performance “unacceptable” and questioned his team’s fundamental use.
The manager directly addressed the lack of intangibles, suggesting that the tactical setup was bordering on a lack of heart and desire to win.
He called the team’s effort ‘nowhere near enough’, and said he could not defend the player’s performance.
He said (via BBC Sport):
“I have my opinions, I did not come to make excuses. That was not acceptable to everyone who is associated with me. That must change.
“To answer for myself, I defended the players at times when it was the right thing to do but I can’t defend that performance, it doesn’t represent this football club, it doesn’t represent anything I ask from the team and that has to change.
“I feel numb as I am angry, I always say what I see and it is not acceptable, the goals we conceded were not acceptable and this is something that I have to raise my hands on.
“I will look at the team, I will look at the individuals and I will look at the team that I can trust to do the basics of football. We should not talk about the basics of football at this level, it is something that we have to fix immediately.
“Tonight was not like that [about] skillfully. This was about desire, spirit, courage and I didn’t see enough of that tonight.
“It’s nowhere near enough and we have to improve that.”
Trevoh Chalobah defends the Chelsea players
Contrary to his manager’s strong criticism, defender Trevoh Chalobah offered a different view of the team’s display.
Despite the stats showing that Brighton outplayed Chelsea within 90 minutes, Chalobah insisted there was no lack of determination and the players ‘pulled their socks up’.
When asked if Brighton showed hunger for more, Chalobah told Sky Sports (via BBC Sport):
“I thought to myself that the boys are taking off their socks, everyone in the locker room is tired.
“It has nothing to do with effort. We gave it our all, we just got beaten today.”
When pressed on the data suggesting an uneven work rate, the defender continued to be dismissive: “We ran today. You can say the numbers, the numbers, but I can see the boys are tired. I don’t know.”
The internal cuts come at a critical time, with Chelsea currently sitting in seventh place and facing a season-defining FA Cup semi-final against Leeds United on Sunday.
