Post-match thoughts from the new boss
The first game of the Liam Rosenior era is in the books, and it’s certainly off to a good start with Chelsea romping to a 5-1 win at The Valley over Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup third round.
It was a dominant performance from the Blues, right from the off, though we were made to wait for the goals. But once Jorrel Hato broke the seal with a tremendous half-volley on the stroke of half time, the rest of the goals duly arrived in unerring succession. Not even Charlton’s goal at 2-0 — the most dangerous lead! — could derail our unerring march towards victory and advancement.
Dealing with momentum shifts like that has been brought up multiple times already by Rosenior as one of our primary areas of improvement, and the new head coach was suitably impressed by the players’ reaction in this game.
“I think the biggest thing I challenged the players on was our reactions to setbacks, our intensity. Nothing tactical, nothing technical. These players are outstanding. They’ve been well coached before me. I was very happy with the togetherness and the spirit of the group today. I was very happy with the intensity that they ran at, winning duels, winning headers, all of the basics. And that’s where you get your joy from.”
As a midseason appointment, Rosenior wouldn’t really have much time to implement any new fancy tactics even if he wanted to, so it’s nice to hear that he’s not trying to reinvent the wheel and is keeping things simple and familiar where he can, and focusing on areas where we can show immediate and impactful improvement.
“We are a good team. They’ve been well coached. I’ve made no secret of that. There are other elements to football other than tactics. Tactics are one element. Shape, systems, technique, they’re all wonderful things. But there are other things that I feel like maybe we can improve on. And that’s what we’ll keep working on as well as the tactical side of the game.”
“[We] have got magnificent players. My idea of football is not important. It’s about winning games of football consistently. It’s a good start. It’s just the start and we have to stay consistent now in a very, very hectic schedule.”
-Liam Rosenior; source: Football.London
Rosenior singled out Alejandro Garnacho, Marc Guiu, Jamie Gittens, and of course Jorrel Hato for additional praise, while revealing that Malo Gusto, Cole Palmer, and Reece James sat out as “precaution”. They should be good to go on Wednesday, against Arsenal int the League Cup semifinal, which will certainly be a bigger challenge for Rosenior & Co.
Category: General Sports
