- 6 minutes ago
Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior on the challenges of facing Aston Villa in the Premier League, Cole Palmer’s fitness and the Blues discipline problem
Cobham, London, UK
Cobham, London, UK
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:19Okay, good afternoon and thank you for joining us. We shall take the usual format today,
00:25beginning with a broadcast section, Sky Sports News and Gail Davis.
00:28Off you go, Gail.
00:29Good afternoon.
00:32Admittedly, we've not had much time, but stripped some of the emotion away from post-match yesterday,
00:37sat down with your players maybe, got into them about how they felt the game went yesterday,
00:44what did you come out with?
00:46Disappointment, missed opportunity. I think they're the two main things and not just from
00:51the game yesterday afternoon, I think from the last three games we've now had.
00:56I think the performances in terms of tactically, technically how we set up the game, how the
01:02players performed in between both boxes, very good. But in the moments that mattered, we
01:07haven't taken advantage of the moments. And for me, we should have four more points from
01:13the two games before and definitely at least a point from our performance barring those
01:17moments.
01:17You talked, I know a lot pretty much about this thing. We can guess what's happening.
01:23You can have an idea. What are the players saying to you about it?
01:28Needs to improve.
01:29Needs to improve.
01:31How do you take that responsibility? Does that almost have to come from them when you
01:35go back and look at some of them?
01:36Yeah, my job is to create a culture of accountability. Where if you make a mistake, it's okay, you
01:45hold your hands up and you make sure it doesn't happen again. But you have to hold your hands
01:49up to the original mistake. If I make the wrong team selection or I get something wrong, my
01:53job is to be accountable. And it's the same for my players in that moment.
01:56I don't know whether you've seen the other clip of Neto getting his first yellow and he
02:00goes on and he goes on and Riz Jens tries to move him away and he carries on and he
02:04carries
02:04on. So in that moment, who has to have a word with him? Who has to, why are you doing
02:10that?
02:11Yeah, you need teammates to help you but it comes down to yourself as well. Pedro's
02:16apologised to the group. We miss him for Wednesday. I just need to see an improvement
02:22in the behaviour now. And it's not just Pedro. We've had bookings.
02:26People were speaking about dissent. We've had needless bookings in terms of fouls.
02:30If we are to improve and get to where we want to be, we have to make a conscious step
02:35now to make sure it doesn't happen again.
02:37One more interesting.
02:39It won't be the last of the press conference, so it's all good. Absolutely fine.
02:43Because you mentioned dissent and you look at the players that have got yellow cards in
02:49dissent. And since August 2023, Enzo Fernandes has got 13 to 12 fillos. He's your vice-captain.
02:58Okay. So if your vice-captain is getting booked for dissent all the time, what message
03:03does that send out to the rest of the site? And do you have to maybe think about him as
03:08a vice-captain?
03:09Never. Enzo's a top leader. Top leader. I have not even entered my mind.
03:14Yeah. If you feel there's something that needs to improve. And yes, we're a young team.
03:19It's not an excuse. We have an outstanding team. They're young. We are a young, one of the
03:23youngest in the league, one of the youngest in Europe. The beautiful thing about having
03:27a young team is sometimes you need to go through experiences to improve. This is a massive
03:32learning experience for my group. I do not want it to be a learning experience where we
03:35fail in what we want to achieve. But these setbacks that we are having, we have to learn
03:41from. Because if we do learn from them, we've proven, even in my short time here, that we
03:46can be an elite team for a long time.
03:49That's just funny for me. I know that it's sort of something quite negative, but I just
03:54wanted to think of something else you spoke about last night in terms of Sanchez and his
03:58performance again yesterday. And you sat there and talked about not wanting to make players
04:05do what they're not comfortable doing. Is he becoming more comfortable doing what he's
04:11doing? Because watching him yesterday, there was that sense of the crowd on his back.
04:16He feels quite nervous. He looks quite nervous. And how is his confidence in him performing
04:24in the way that you want him to perform in the system?
04:27Yeah, I think each player adds to the overall picture and functionality of your team, right?
04:36So, yes, the first few minutes we had a few nervy spells. The fact that we played out from
04:41the back affected Chelsea's press and gave us space in the areas that we wanted to have
04:44those spaces. I think that's just as clear. So I don't want to single out players and say
04:50what they can or can't improve. It's about the functionality of the team. I don't think
04:54anyone can say in the moment, other than the two set play moments, my team did not function
04:59well in the game. By the way, the league leaders, top of the Champions League, we functioned in
05:04a very good way for a lot of the game. The reason we lost the game is we didn't take
05:07care of the
05:08moments, nothing to do with Rob's build, nothing to do with the way that we played. We have to manage
05:12those moments to win games of football.
05:15Sariah.
05:16Hi, Liam. Ask Mbilla next. They're a team that has scored the most goals from outside the
05:22box in terms of 13. So one part of my question is, how do you prepare your team for individual
05:28excellence? Because that comes from nothing, space outside the box. And secondly, last night
05:32you saw Caicedo get past or left foot, take a shot so far. And now Caicedo, it means Enzo,
05:37it's a farmer who played that can fall so far. If it's an instruction that you won the
05:41mean tight game to take a shot from far.
05:44Well, you would never tell Moe Caicedo or Enzo or Reece or Cole or Pedro, you would never
05:50tell them not to take a shot if they didn't think it was the right decision in that moment.
05:53In terms of preparing for Aston Villa, the reason they score great goals is because they
05:58have great attacking players. We show individual clips to our players. Our players know the
06:04strengths and weaknesses of each individual we're up against. It's going to be a very
06:07difficult game. They're very clinical in terms of the DXG that they create in terms of the
06:12values of the goals that they score. They're a good team. It's going to be tough because
06:18they're going to have a reaction from their last result. And we have to make sure we're
06:22prepared for a very difficult game.
06:24Yeah.
06:24So, after last night's game, 17.6% of the goals scored in the Premier League this season
06:29have Colton Corners, which is the highest in history. So, 138 goals out of 780 in Colton
06:35Corners. Chelsea have the highest chances conceded in Colton Corners. So, we know that these
06:41are finishing. Just some clarity on your staffing and what you're actually involved in. Are you
06:47really involved in that defensive set up or would you like to leave that?
06:50I am now.
06:51You are now.
06:55It's not a laughing matter because it's a key thing that we have to improve. Every manager
07:01has a different idea about the way you attack and defend set plays. I will always be honest,
07:06I've taken more responsibility in the last week because I know it's something that needs
07:11to improve. Bernardo has proven what a fantastic set piece coach he is in terms of our offensive
07:15output is amongst the best in the league. And it's not just down to coaching, it's down
07:19to mentality. It's down to focus and concentration. And I think by the manager taking control of
07:25that, hopefully from a mentality point of view, the value of that goes up in terms of the way
07:30that we work with it.
07:31And lastly, you said previously, I know you need to win in the short term, but I also need
07:35to build for a long time.
07:37100%.
07:37You've gone toe-to-toe to the lead leaders. All of these top points are games you could
07:41have won. It's not like the month before. So, is this style of football the true identity
07:46to how you want to play? Or is it match by match? This is what we're doing right now.
07:51I think you always adapt. No matter what your identity is, you adapt it for each game. I
07:59agree with you. I think if we're being rounded in our opinion of the games, I can't think
08:05of one game since I've taken over where you come away and say, didn't deserve to win that.
08:10Even West Ham, when we're 2-0 down, we deserve to win the game. What we haven't done is taken
08:14advantage of moments. And for a coach, that can be really frustrating. But you also have to
08:18have an understanding. It's part of the process. It's part of the process for me to learn about
08:22the players, which I've said before. What I have learnt, the biggest thing is that these
08:26players are more than capable to perform the identity that I want to play with. But that
08:31takes months. What we have to do is win in the short term, but also with an eye of being
08:37consistently elite in the long term.
08:38Thanks, Soraya. Ian?
08:40Hi, Ian. How are you?
08:41Very good.
08:42You said before you need to see an improvement in that.
09:05Sometimes it's not a stick. It's showing what the value of not having a red card is. If you
09:10look at our stats, when we have 11 men on the pitch, before my job here and after my job
09:17here, our percentage chance of winning goes through the roof. So that needs to be motivation
09:21in itself to make sure we stay disciplined in key moments. I think reacting to setbacks,
09:26reacting to... And sometimes a setback is giving the ball away. Sometimes a setback is a referee making a
09:31decision you disagree with. In that moment, you have to react positively and you have to think of the next
09:36thing.
09:37And that's the things that we have to go after in order for our discipline to improve.
09:41The discipline has been a problem here, like you say, before you even arrived. So clearly these players have been
09:45told about it.
09:48Maybe it isn't sinking into it.
09:50Yeah, for sure. I don't know how you want me to answer that. It's more of a statement than a
09:55question.
09:58You talk about results, but how do you get this to sink in with them? How do you get the
10:02players involved?
10:02Well, I think the first thing, you pick players who actually, who are showing that improvement.
10:08I can't afford to go through a season every two games or every three games with a red card.
10:12It's not possible. So I need to see improvement in that and I need to adjust my team selection
10:17based on who's showing those capabilities.
10:20Last one. On the slot today, we've been talking about goals scored from setbacks.
10:42I think that is the beauty of football. You can do it in so many different ways.
10:46There's no right or wrong way to play football for me.
10:50I'm sure when we scored from a corner yesterday, it was flicked on the lone goal.
10:54Our fans didn't care what the goal looked like.
10:56And I'm sure Arsenal's fans didn't care how their goals looked like.
10:59The game is about winning. What I would say is, about corners, I do think there needs to be a
11:04review
11:04at the end of the season in terms of the way teams are affecting the goalkeepers,
11:08the way teams are holding on defensive set plays.
11:11Because I think that is something that gives an unfair advantage to certain teams.
11:16Thanks, Ian. Nizar?
11:17Hi, Liam. Yeah, just before the match, PSG managed to get the game moved against North.
11:23And I was wondering what you thought of that.
11:25Because on the face of it, it looks a little bit like an advantage over Chelsea for those
11:29that are from the Champions League.
11:31I think that's their prerogative. PSG are a club that I have huge respect for.
11:41It's not for me to speak on those things. It's got nothing to do with me.
11:45What we have to do is manage our schedule the best we can, so that we're as fresh and as
11:49psychologically healthy
11:51and good as we can be in that game.
11:55Yesterday, Paul Palmer went down, injured for a little spell.
11:58And it looked like to me that, you know, with his sort of issue, it's been quite painful on the
12:03groin issue that he's had.
12:04It looked like maybe a flare-up of that.
12:06It wasn't. No, it was something. He took a knock. He was absolutely fine.
12:09Okay. And is there any concerns about how you're using him for the sort of busy period that you're coming
12:15up with?
12:15Because you've got a game every few days. How's his fitness?
12:19He's looking really good. I think you can see.
12:21I think you can see in the way we've managed him over the last six weeks that he played 83
12:26minutes.
12:26That was tactical. Why I took him and Enzo off, they were both on yellow cards.
12:30And I wanted Garner and Liam to come on and give us a freshness, which I felt they did.
12:34He's absolutely fine to start the game on Wednesday.
12:37Thanks, Nizar. And we'll finish this section with Simon.
12:39And then just following up for the team news, is there anyone back or any updates?
12:45No, getting closer. Cuckoo's looking really good.
12:48Hopefully we can get him back involved, if not for Wednesday, for Saturday, for sure,
12:52which is great for with the schedule we've got coming up.
12:55It's good. Esteval's back on the pitch running, which is great.
12:58Jamie Gittins is doing really well.
13:00It's been brilliant to have Romeo Lavia get his first minutes in a long time.
13:03I felt he looked really strong.
13:04So, yeah, the quicker we get all of our players healthy, the better.
13:07And on Romeo, how close do you think he's going to be?
13:12Close. Close. I want to manage him in a different way in terms of his rehab.
13:19And hopefully once he's back fit, which he is now, he stays fit.
13:22And he's good to go again?
13:24Yeah, absolutely fine.
13:25Thanks, Simon. Thanks, everyone.
13:27Camera's off, please.
Comments