Liam Rosenior tasted victory in his first game as a Premier League manager, but the new Chelsea boss wouldn’t have been too pleased with their performance against Brentford.
Chelsea won 2-0 thanks to a goal in each half from Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer, but they gave up huge chances to Brentford. The Bees were wasteful in front of goal and Chelsea made them pay, as Rosenior’s side were clunky and perhaps showed some tiredness from their midweek League Cup defeat at home to Arsenal.
Here’s the latest Liam Rosenior reaction from Stamford Bridge after Chelsea’s win against Brentford.
Liam Rosenior reaction
On how he’s feeling: “Happy. Lot more work to do,” Rosenior told the BBC. “But to win against Brentford, I think they are a very good side and there’s a reason they were fifth in the league, I was delighted with the attitude of the players to win in a different way. Sometimes this club is about winning. We need to find a way that we are very good with the ball but to get our first clean sheet in eight games, the way we defended the box, the way we defended corners, long throws, to beat a consistently good team and winning team you have to do that side of the game.”
On the defending of his players: “That is what I love. That is what I demand. I know I’ve got a talented group. I’ve told them all week about how good they are. I’ve spoken to them all week about restarts, throw ins, corners, valuing the other side of the game. I’m delighted for them because at the end I see Cole on the floor, who hasn’t trained all week, played 90 minutes and just ran for the team. Even at the end after he scored the goal he’s pressing, his energy levels and if you want to be successful you can’t be great with the ball every game. You have to find a way to win and the lads certainly did that this afternoon.”
On Joao Pedro taking his goal well: “Joao’s a top player. What I like about that goal, we lose the ball, great reaction to losing the ball. Three players pressing. Win the ball back. Joao puts it in the top corner. Second goal, it’s a really good press and they are the things I think I can help the team with in this moment when I don’t have the training time to work on patterns all the time. The energy to press. Liam comes on, forces a mistake from the goalkeeper, we win a penalty and Cole scores it.”
On not over-celebrating the goals and not getting ahead of himself: “My job is to stay calm. My job is to help the players on the pitch and make the right decisions in terms of subs and systems. I am excited and I love doing this job. There will be moments of passion but my job is to stay calm and help my players win games of football.”
On first four games being in four different competitions: “I don’t know if that is a first. I am saying I’m privileged. I am privileged. I love being here. I want to be successful with this group. It’s my first Premier League game, my first Champions League game on Wednesday. I’ve earned it. I’ve worked very hard to get here and the buy-in of the players this week has been very, very good in terms of what I’ve asked them.”
On a lot of people in the game also feeling that he’s earned this job: “Thank you. Now I need to prove the point with my group and with my staff.”
