Online Reporter
Incoming Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior was given some quick lessons in what he needs to do at Stamford Bridge as he watched his new players lose 2-1 at Fulham on Wednesday, with fixing their terrible discipline record at the top of his to-do list.
Television cameras cut to Rosenior sitting high in the stands, looking stony-faced as defender Marc Cucurella trudged off the pitch following a red card for a foul on Harry Wilson, with only a quarter of the game played.
The dismissal took Chelsea’s total number of red cards in the league so far this season to five, more than double any other team and a big factor in their struggle to live up to the hype following their Club World Cup victory in the summer.
They have now won only once in nine league games and sit seventh in the Premier League table.
Fulham made their numerical advantage count with Raul Jimenez scoring with a bullet header in the 55th minute and Wilson settling the match in the 81st after Liam Delap had raised Chelsea’s hopes with his first league goal for the Blues.
Chelsea interim coach Calum McFarlane – who stepped up from running the club’s under-21 side following the departure of Enzo Maresca on January 1 and oversaw a 1-1 draw at Manchester City on Sunday – said the sending off was the game’s turning point.
“Any red card affects the game massively,” McFarlane told reporters. “Really disappointed because we were starting to get into our rhythm so it came at a really bad time for us.”
He also said he was concerned by the three yellow cards given to Chelsea players for protesting about Cucurella’s sending off. “Three yellow cards after is something we need to look at,” said McFarlane who himself was booked later in the game for arguing with the referee.
The Chelsea fans packed into one end of Craven Cottage made it clear that they saw bigger problems, turning their ire on one of the co-owners Behdad Eghbali who was watching the match alongside Rosenior, and the club’s controlling Clearlake Capital consortium which the U.S. billionaire co-founded.
Rosenior this week became the fourth permanent appointment as Chelsea coach since the group of investors bought the club in 2022.
Meanwhile, Rosenior delivered his first message to Chelsea’s players as the new Blues boss admitted he needs to “hit the ground running”.
Rosenior was hired from French club Strasbourg on Tuesday to replace Enzo Maresca, who parted company with Chelsea last week after reported conflict with the Blues’ hierarchy.
“Super excited. I can’t wait. As a young man I have always wanted to be a coach, I’ve talked about it a lot,” Rosenior told Sky Sports.
“For this opportunity to come up at this stage of my career is great but my biggest focus is not about being Chelsea manager, it’s about being a winning Chelsea manager, and that is the message that I gave the players yesterday when I was fortunate enough to meet them for the first time.
“We need to hit the ground running for the rest of the season.”
Although Rosenior has spoken to his new squad for the first time, he was set to watch from the Craven Cottage stands rather than take charge of the Premier League clash.
Chelsea’s Under-21 coach Calum McFarlane, who oversaw a 1-1 draw at Manchester City as interim boss last weekend, remained in charge against Fulham.
Rosenior’s first game will come at second-tier Charlton in the FA Cup third round on Saturday.
“I flew in from Strasbourg yesterday morning, so it is a difficult time frame for me to get in the tactical work I want to get into to get the lads to give them the best possible chance to win. I’ve got full faith in Calum and the lads to win tonight,” he said.
“The lads when I was working in Strasbourg were very supportive of me. We are very aligned in terms of recruitment, style of play.
“That is why I was brought into the project to begin with. To be honest I never thought it would end up with me stood here in January as Chelsea manager but in life you never know what’s going to happen.” − Reuters
