- 17 hours ago
Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior on a new contract for Reece James, their recent struggles for form and the challenge of facing Newcastle United in the Premier League. The captain also speaks on his new deal at the club
Cobham, London, UK
Cobham, London, UK
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00:03Hello, my friend.
00:22Okay, good afternoon and thank you for joining us.
00:25We will take the usual format today, but joining us this afternoon alongside head coach Liam
00:31Resinger is club captain Rhys James, who has signed a new six-year deal with the club.
00:38We will begin with James Funderer in the Sky Sports News.
00:41Off you go, James.
00:42Rhys, many congratulations on a new contract.
00:45Just talk me through your decision to commit your long-term future and your best years to Chelsea.
00:51I mean, to be honest, it wasn't really much of a decision.
00:54You know, I come through at this club.
00:56You know, I love the club.
00:58You know, I've experienced winning here and I believe there's still lots more to come in the future.
01:03And in terms of that belief, how much confidence do you have in the direction that the club is heading
01:08in over the course of the next few years?
01:10No, I mean, I've spoken to everyone from the top of the club down, from, you know, ownership to sporting
01:16directors.
01:17And, you know, I'm fully behind, you know, the project and what we're trying to build.
01:22Liam, you can't stop smiling.
01:24Just how significant a piece of business is this club?
01:27Yeah, I can't stop smiling because we secured the best player in world football in his position.
01:33And he had many, many opportunities to leave this magnificent club.
01:37And the good thing is not just the size and the stature of the club that he's come through from
01:42a very, very young age.
01:43But it's his belief and confidence in what we're doing here, where we want to go.
01:48We've had many conversations about it.
01:49For him to sign a deal and put his faith in us is a massive step.
01:54Why do you doubt Rhys is the best player in the world in that position?
01:59Do I have to explain that when you see him play?
02:02Huh?
02:02I don't want to embarrass him.
02:03He's top.
02:04No, he's top.
02:05What's, when you meet Rhys, you see him from afar and you admire him.
02:10He can play many different positions.
02:12Technically, he can score goals.
02:14He defends.
02:15It's athleticism, tactical understanding.
02:17The thing that impresses me most about him is his humility in him as a person.
02:20And you realise why he's having and will have the career that he will go on to have as the
02:26captain of Chelsea.
02:27For as long as I'm here, he will be, he'll be my leader.
02:31So, so for me, it's been a really, really good two and a half months with him.
02:34I now understand a lot more why he is the player he is.
02:37And he's going to go on to have, hopefully, a really successful career here at this club.
02:41In terms of team use for tomorrow's game, Jamie Gittins and Hector now, are they closely involved?
02:46Jamie's back involved, which is great.
02:49Este's still a little bit further away.
02:51We want to be careful with Este because of the nature of his hamstring injury.
02:54We don't want it reoccurring at a crucial stage of the season.
02:57We'll see what he's like for Tuesday's game against PSG.
03:01There's been a lot of focus on goalkeepers this week.
03:05Do you feel the options that you have at Chelsea are good enough for a club the size of Chelsea?
03:10For sure, for sure.
03:13Obviously, I made a decision to play Philippe against Aston Villa and his performance was outstanding and contributed to a
03:20very good winner against a very good team.
03:22And I think his performance for 75 minutes was magnificent.
03:26He makes a mistake and we get punished and we go on to lose a game in a manner that
03:31we definitely shouldn't have lost.
03:32Rob Sanchez is one of the best goalkeepers in the league.
03:35There's no question about those two players' quality at this level.
03:39It's more about my decision for each game and in which way I go in that position.
03:44And bearing in mind what happened on Wednesday night, how is Philippe?
03:48Is he in a position mentally to start the game again tomorrow?
03:51For sure.
03:54Everybody makes mistakes in life, in football.
03:57It's how you recover, it's how you respond to a setback.
04:00I've got no issues, no lack of trust with the two goalkeepers I have or the team.
04:05And I'm really, really looking forward to getting back on the pitch with what happened in the last 15 minutes
04:09on Wednesday.
04:23I think it's, I've seen the incident back now and it doesn't look good in terms of, I understand Pedro's
04:35perspective.
04:35He wants to get the ball back in play as quickly as possible.
04:38He wants to win for the club.
04:39There are ways you go about it.
04:41What I was so impressed with him was for him and it was his idea.
04:44He wanted to apologise straight away.
04:46Like I've just said, whether it's a goalkeeper, whether it's me as a manager, a player, we make mistakes.
04:51But it's about learning from those mistakes and making sure they don't happen again.
04:54And finally for me, given the state of the Champions League tie against PSG,
04:58do you almost need to prioritise the Premier League more and ensure you are back in the Champions League next
05:04season?
05:04I don't prioritise any competition.
05:08The way that we play, we want to win the next game.
05:10I've seen teams come back from three goals down in the Champions League at home many times.
05:14And with the amount of chances that we created in the game after analysing it back,
05:19we still have a very good chance if we can get the first goal in the first half on the
05:23Tuesday night
05:24after this important game tomorrow.
05:27Soraya.
05:28Hi.
05:29Rhys, congrats on the contact extension.
05:31Liam, good to see you.
05:33Just on the back of PSG, obviously it was a game with such momentum,
05:37maybe the ball doesn't even reflect the actual game.
05:39But you waited quite a long time to make some subs.
05:44Newcastle was also speaking, they've got Barcelona about their fatigue in time.
05:48Yeah.
05:48What was your rationale?
05:49Did you just make it to the lads on the pitch for doing a good job?
05:51That you've said it.
05:52Sometimes it's that simple.
05:54We were in a really good place.
05:56We were in a really good place in the game.
05:57The last thing you want to do is disrupt the flow of the team
06:00in terms of making changes for the sake of making changes.
06:03At 2-2, I've watched the game back.
06:06Even at the time, I felt that we were in the ascendancy in that moment.
06:10And then we make a mistake and it gets to 3-2 and the rest is history.
06:14I'll make changes when I feel it's the right time to make changes for the team.
06:19I don't think too far ahead for the next game.
06:21It's about, in this stage of the season, it's about the importance of each game
06:25and starting with the game tomorrow.
06:27My thought on the team for PSG or what that looks like
06:30hasn't even ended my head for Tuesday.
06:31And as a coach, you always speak about equipping players with the tools
06:34but you want them to go on the pitch and think in the moment
06:37and do what's best fit for them.
06:39But dropping the points that you have for winning positions
06:41or those errors that have happened,
06:43how do you and your role actually make the team more clinical?
06:47Because there were many chances in some of the games you've lost
06:49where it's a different story for you to control.
06:51Yeah, I think I've been here for two and a half months.
06:54That's the reality.
06:55It feels like a long time with the amount of games that we've had.
06:58How you learn from mistakes is the way I work with the players.
07:02As we sit down, we go through a lot of clips.
07:04As Rhys would tell you, sitting next to me, a lot of times he's been in my office.
07:08And sometimes it's two or three clips that you show.
07:10What you want to see after that is an improvement.
07:13But I've been here for two and a half months.
07:15So it takes time.
07:17We don't have much time left.
07:19We need to learn from, especially the Leeds and Burnley games
07:22where we dropped four points from winning positions at home.
07:24And if we do that, with the consistency in our performances,
07:28we won 4-1 at Villa the last game.
07:30We're in a good place to do what we want to do.
07:32And when you're making decisions in the business end of the season,
07:36being a manager right now, it's such a human job.
07:39You have to make a lot of things with people's thoughts and emotions in your mind.
07:43Right now, is it more data about what's going on?
07:47Are you following statistics or are you following your gut feeling?
07:49Because picking goalkeepers and changing goalkeepers and what do you think about that?
07:54I don't think it's more one or the other.
07:55What you do, we have got an amazing analyst team.
07:59Ten people in our analytics department.
08:01You take the information from them.
08:03But you can never not go with your eye or your intuition at the moment.
08:07What affects your intuition and your eye is the data that you pick up in the week
08:10when you're assessing the games and the players that are performing.
08:13So it's a combination of both.
08:17Liam, I wanted to ask you about that in Zofananda's incident.
08:20You asked about at the end of the game, he kind of threw the ball.
08:23He's obviously a great player, but threw the ball towards Filip and shouted at him a bit.
08:27I wondered if that's sort of a normal reaction in sort of a league-level sport
08:30or is that a bit too much in terms of the world?
08:33I watched it back.
08:34I was asked about it immediately after the game.
08:37I hadn't seen it.
08:38As a player with passion, he wants to win.
08:40Roy Keane did that probably.
08:41Roy Keane was my manager.
08:43Roy Keane as a player probably did that 20 times a game.
08:45I want a team with a culture of accountability where we can demand from each other in the moment.
08:53Enzo loves Philippe.
08:54Enzo wants the best for him.
08:56Enzo believes in him.
08:57But in that moment, he was frustrated with something that happened.
08:59And it's no more than that.
09:01I wanted to ask Reece as well as the captain.
09:03You've got a vice-captain there as well.
09:05How does it work with the dynamics in the leadership team?
09:07How do you lean on that?
09:08Maybe you're more of a calm character.
09:10Enzo's more of an aggressive character.
09:12No, I mean, I think we work hand in hand.
09:15You know, he has a lot of influence on the dressing room as well.
09:19You know, with a lot of non-English speaking players.
09:22I know we work together.
09:23And, you know, ultimately, we both want the best for the club and want the team to do well.
09:28Do you think you two could be like a long-term leadership team because you're both still young with yourselves
09:32and things like that?
09:33Do you think you can grow as leaders and sort of be two of the figureheads to lead this team
09:37into a good future?
09:39Yeah, for sure.
09:39I mean, I haven't, you know, been a captain so long.
09:43You know, I'm still young.
09:44I'm still learning.
09:45You know, the longer I play, the more I learn.
09:48And, yeah, I just try and, you know, give my best and improve on every opportunity.
09:53Thanks, Nizar.
09:54Simon?
09:55Hi, Reece.
09:56So, congrats on the new deal.
09:57You talked about having talks with people at the top.
10:01Was part of your conversation, not that I expected you to say everything about it, but sort of finding out
10:08the future of signings and that the club will continue to strengthen and make Chelsea competitive?
10:14I mean, I wouldn't go as far as saying sign-ins, but, you know, I wanted to, you know, make
10:21sure that the direction and vision was aligned.
10:25And, you know, for sure, everyone from, you know, the top to bottom is aligned and, you know, this club's
10:32ambition is to win.
10:33You know, every year I've been here, the club has won trophies, you know, and we're going to continue to
10:40try and do that.
10:41You're the only member of the squad that won the Champions League, obviously, a couple of trophies last season.
10:47What do you think Chelsea need to get back to winning the Champions League?
10:52What do you think is missing?
10:53I think, you know, winning major trophies like this, you know, are small details.
10:59And, you know, you talk about small details and, you know, we let, you know, a few slipped the other
11:04night, you know, with the way the game ended.
11:08You know, we need to, you know, we'll go over that with the team, you know, with the manager and,
11:13you know, try and adjust things for the second leg.
11:16And last one for me, just on your personal journey and we've asked about your fitness before.
11:23Where are you at now in terms of what sort of percentage level?
11:27And just talk to me about some of the difficulties you've had to overcome almost mentally because you're one of
11:33the best players, as Luke has said, in your position.
11:36But you had to come through all these obstacles.
11:39Yeah, I mean, I had to come through a lot, you know, two or three years of struggles and setbacks,
11:44you know, after setback.
11:46And, you know, I'm in a really good place at the moment.
11:49You know, my body's feeling good.
11:51I'm playing, you know, on a regular basis, two, three games a week.
11:54And I just try and help the team as much as I can and, you know, do what's right.
11:58Thanks, Simon.
12:00We'll finish with Rob.
12:01With the end zone, do you like to see players bent in their anger like that?
12:05Or is there some benefit to working things out behind closed doors?
12:09Because obviously it's generated a lot of negative frustration.
12:13If you play football in front of 50,000, 60,000 people, adrenaline's running through your system and you want
12:18to win, you're going to be passionate.
12:20What I want, I want both.
12:22I want players to demand from each other, always with respect.
12:24But then we sit down and we talk about it and we work things through together in the dressing room.
12:30In this social media climate now, any small thing can turn into the biggest thing based on the amount of
12:35clicks that it gets.
12:36The reality is it's somewhere nowhere near as big as what it's made out to be.
12:43Did they speak about it?
12:44They spoke, their best mates.
12:45They spoke as soon as we got back in the dressing room.
12:48Thanks, Rob.
12:49Okay, we'll name that section there.
12:50Cameras off, please.
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