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A week after announcing the departure of Enzo Maresca, Chelsea have replaced him with Strasbourg's Liam Rosenior. Although still relatively early in his managerial career, he's already carved out a reputation for being a great tactical manager, and one of the rising stars in the game. Adam Clery looks at what he can bring to this Chelsea team, and how they will set-up under him.
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00:00Right, hello there everybody, welcome to the Adam Cleary Football Channel where we try to make football make a bit
00:05more sense.
00:06And in world record time, Chelsea have a new manager.
00:10Liam Rossinia, who very handily as manager of Strasbourg, is already part of the club's ownership model,
00:16replaces Enzo Maresca and you want to know what that means for this football team.
00:23What sort of manager is he? What formation does he use? How do his teams play?
00:27Well, if you are sitting comfortably, then we shall begin.
00:31But if you want it in six words, it's very good news for Chelsea, probably.
00:41Alright, so first off, take a look at this still here from when Rossinia Strasbourg played PSG last season.
00:48That is arguably the team in European football who are begging you most to commit five or six players high
00:55up the pitch
00:55so that they can then play through you and attack the open space in behind.
00:59This is precisely how you should not try and play against them, especially if you are away from home.
01:07And yet, Strasbourg get it absolutely perfect.
01:11They take the ball off them in a dangerous area.
01:13They score directly from this kind of pressure.
01:16In fact, you could say that they put the high press in highly impressive.
01:24Sorry.
01:24But secondly, wrap your gepps around the absolute state of this situation here.
01:30That is goalkeeper Mike Penders, who is coincidentally on loan from Chelsea as it happens,
01:35effectively just playing last man back and getting involved in Strasbourg build-up
01:40a million miles outside of his own goal.
01:43And the reason we're showing you these two things side by side
01:46is because combined, they neatly encapsulate everything you need to know
01:50about how Liam Rossinia likes his teams to play.
01:54Sometimes you can dominate the ball and sometimes you can dominate the space.
01:59But regardless, you should always be looking to be proactive in what you're doing.
02:04He does not want to be a coach that instructs his teams to be passive or patient
02:09or wait for the game to just happen around or in front of them.
02:12You either play or you press and you do both of those as a team.
02:19Thirdly, as ever, hugs and kisses to Fotmob, our official data providers
02:24slash in real life best friends.
02:27We'll be using their stuff throughout the video like we normally try and do.
02:30But you should go and get to their app because it is like data and stats
02:34and lineups and graphs and information and fixtures and results
02:36and all the things you would like to know about football on your phone.
02:40The link is in the description and if you hook me up to a polygraph test,
02:43I'll still tell you we love them.
02:45Anyway, though, we're going to start with the basics here.
02:48What formation does Liam Rossinia like to play?
02:50Because you may, given everything that just happened at Man United,
02:55heard talk of a back three and understandably gotten a little worried.
03:01And yeah, not to put the heebie-jeebies up you or anything,
03:04but they have predominantly been using the same 3-4-2-1 as Ruben Amorim has been this season.
03:12Like, yep, that's a back three.
03:13Ben Chilwell, you remember him.
03:14Valentin Barco of Brighton fame.
03:17Mike Pendus, who we've mentioned, he's on loan from Chelsea.
03:19And Julio Nciso, who, not to get into the vagaries of the ownership model,
03:26is basically like a gift from Chelsea.
03:29However, however, however, however, do not look at this system and despair OE Chelsea fans
03:35because Liam Rossinia, unlike his Portuguese counterpart, does not have a big throbber on for this.
03:42He is not wedded to it in any way, shape or form.
03:45The man is a pragmatist and believes the formation that a team takes up
03:49is secondary by a million miles to its overall identity.
03:54He changes the formation all the time.
03:57In fact, if you include the qualifiers, he's used a back four in Europe this season
04:01a lot more than he's used a back three.
04:03Sometimes it's just a direct sort of 4-4-2.
04:06Sometimes it looks a lot more like a 4-3-3.
04:10He is a manager who, first and foremost, will tailor his approach to suit the game they're in.
04:16Like, I actually do think you will see him use a back three at Chelsea.
04:19It could even look a little something like this, but only in very, very specific circumstances.
04:25But regardless of what shape his teams take, they have the consistent principles
04:29of defenders who are extremely comfortable on the ball and passing through central lanes.
04:35They get a lot of help from the goalkeeper to add more passing angles.
04:38You see Strasbourg do this sort of thing regardless of the formation.
04:43And what's unusual about the way Rossinia sets them up is that for a team that's so comfortable with the
04:48ball at the back,
04:49they're not, like, obsessed with possession.
04:51They're, like, 7th in Ligue 1 this season for that stat.
04:547th for completed short passes.
04:567th for total touches.
04:58But top by a mile for touches in their own defensive third.
05:02Like, genuinely over 40% of all the touches of the ball Strasbourg have had this season
05:08have been in their own defensive third.
05:11And that might strike you as really ponderous and incredibly boring.
05:15But you've got to remember, they're not a heavy possession side.
05:19So they're not just keeping it for the sake of keeping it.
05:22They're really happy to just knock it around at the back,
05:25but only with the expressed intention of then playing up the field and through the thirds incredibly quickly.
05:32So that patience they demonstrate, having it at the back for that long,
05:35and the insane positions that the goalkeeper takes up, which we'll touch on in a little bit,
05:41are designed to bait the opposition on.
05:43And they're supposed to make them a really inviting target to press
05:47so that they have that space in the opposition half to play into.
05:51Or just to word that another way, they will keep the ball as long as they feel they have to
05:55in order to explode and open up at the other end.
05:59It's a stat that makes them sound very tedious, but in reality, they're actually quite exciting.
06:05They are second in Ligue 1 for the number of take-ons attempted and completed,
06:09and balls like this, through balls that use that space to split the defence, they are top.
06:16And if you did not see Strasbourg play Crystal Palace this season,
06:20then you missed the perfect example of both the good and the bad of Liam Rossini's system.
06:27Live and in living colour.
06:29Like, we'll start at this moment here, okay?
06:31It was a 3-4-3 game for them.
06:32Barco in the middle, two wing-backs here, narrow three up front.
06:36It all starts exactly how you would expect it to,
06:39but once the rotations and the movement kick in, you can see how well coached they are.
06:44Nanassi, I think this is here, the left side of 10,
06:46comes off his defender to find the space that all these lads, being so deep,
06:52has created between the lines.
06:54Barco makes the brave pass in this situation.
06:57It's forward, it's central, it splits the press,
07:00and after having a load of touches in this area,
07:03they are now only two passes away from getting a shot on goal.
07:07So you sort of see what I'm getting at with all of this.
07:09Like, numbers like this make it look like they're ponderous, they're tedious,
07:13they're really slow, but it's done so that they can be explosive and aggressive
07:17and really direct once the space opens up.
07:21Like, there's a point to it.
07:22And it works for them on the goal they score.
07:24Again, loads of players in their own half.
07:26You'd never think this was a team a few seconds away from a goal.
07:29And two very quick forward passes later,
07:33a massive physical run from the wing back,
07:36and they manufacture a chance that is virtually unmissable.
07:40So yeah, great.
07:41Patience on the ball to manufacture the space to allow you to attack quickly.
07:45That's what Resenia wants Strasbourg to do.
07:48But I did say that you saw the good and the bad of it in this game,
07:52because while they did beat a Premier League team, well done them.
07:57They should, in all likelihood, have got f***ing battered here.
08:03The reason this style of play works so well for them is because teams simply cannot resist moments like this.
08:09And the temptation to press them, because while they're being patient with it,
08:14yes, they're also taking enormous risks on the ball.
08:18Twice in this game, Palace basically miss an open goal that comes from Strasbourg,
08:24just getting it slightly wrong at the back.
08:27Like I showed you before where the goalkeeper, Mike Penders,
08:30ends up taking a starting position to help them retain possession.
08:33But when you give it away in that situation, you wind up here.
08:40Palace not only contrived to miss this chance when he's 35 yards out of his goal,
08:44but when he steps in to give them a back four,
08:47it's one rushed pass and one sloppy touch,
08:51and Wharton somehow hits the post with an open goal.
08:54It's maybe the most risk versus reward football currently being played in Europe, I would say.
09:01So Chelsea fans, I'll tell you this as a neutral,
09:04I'm really excited to see what he does with this team.
09:09I don't necessarily know how you should feel.
09:12It might get a bit weird, but I'm looking forward to it.
09:15And don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting to see Robert Sanchez in these sorts of positions from the very
09:20first game,
09:21but like, not to hammer this point,
09:24because I'm sure it's getting hammered in every other video about Rosinha and Chelsea,
09:28but these are Penders and Sanchez's respective heat maps and ball playing numbers this season.
09:35And bear in mind that Sanchez is one of the more involved keepers in the league with the ball.
09:39Like, he gets 45 touches a game, he averages 38 passes,
09:43only goes along with like 35% of them.
09:46He plays with it.
09:47It is one of his strengths.
09:49But then, you show Penders alongside that,
09:51and there are just levels to this, unfortunately.
09:54Practically the most touches of any goalkeeper in Europe,
09:58remembering again that Strasbourg don't actually have that much of the ball,
10:02so that's even more impressive.
10:03He's got more passes than Sanchez,
10:05and 86% of them are short.
10:09So yeah, I would expect to see Robert Sanchez more involved with the ball,
10:12maybe playing a little bit higher up.
10:15But remember the main point about this video, right?
10:17Liam Rosinha is a pragmatist.
10:20He's not going to force any of this onto Chelsea if it doesn't suit them.
10:25Like, Strasbourg lead Ligue 1 this season for the most number of errors that lead to a shot.
10:31They've got three times more than PSG.
10:33So you take how risky it is,
10:35and you factor in that because of injury,
10:37because of having to rotate Rhys James,
10:39because of the average age of the squad,
10:41Chelsea almost never have a settled or experienced back four in front of that goalkeeper.
10:47And doing something like this then becomes really, really risky.
10:52So it'll take time to bet in if he even decides to bet it in at all.
10:56But I know, what are you thinking?
10:57Like, possession, Adam?
10:58That's the nerd stuff.
11:00What about the forwards?
11:01What about the top end of the pitch?
11:02What does this mean for Coley P and for Liam DeLapp,
11:07who he weirdly actually had at Hull City
11:08and scored the only goal when he beat Mareska's Leicester that time?
11:12What does it mean for them?
11:13Well, reassuringly, it's not that different from what they're already doing now.
11:19Chelsea have the lowest passes per defensive action this season.
11:22So just how much pressure are you putting on the ball?
11:25Lots, it turns out.
11:26And they are joint top for the number of chances created from winning the ball high up,
11:31and joint second for the number of goals from that.
11:34And the reason we opened with this moment right at the start of the video
11:37is because it shows you that Resinia has the courage to get right in PSG's face.
11:42And that is what you're going to see from Chelsea.
11:46Because unlike the batshit insane goalkeeper 50-yard line starting position,
11:50this is something they're already doing and already good at.
11:54Estevan, Neto, Gittins, Palmer, JoĂŁo Pedro,
11:56all really perfect for this direct one-touch transitional style.
12:00And DeLapp actually profiles really similarly to Emiga.
12:06Omega? Emiga.
12:08I've only ever seen that name written down.
12:10Emmanuel Emeka.
12:11Emeka.
12:13Emeka.
12:15Emmanuel.
12:16Emeka.
12:17Emeka.
12:18Paul Merson's in a lot of trouble here.
12:20Anyway, yes, big physical presence, deep starting position to let players run off him.
12:24This is an appointment you would suspect is really, really good for his Chelsea career.
12:29Even though apparently Resinia played him on the right wing at Hull for a bit.
12:33So, who knows?
12:35But yes, anyway, I cannot stress enough how adaptable a manager Resinia looks like he is
12:40at this stage of his career.
12:42Like, again, at Strasbourg, they would occasionally do some really cool things
12:46with a box in front of a back three.
12:48Where they would sort of stretch themselves across the width of the pitch
12:52to evade markers, but do it, like, in a rotational way.
12:55So nobody knew who to pick up.
12:57But likewise, when they did play with a back four, you would occasionally see that
13:01Deserby at Brighton thing of very patient build-up with all six of these players
13:05before the forwards would drop to help out.
13:08And if they did end up taking the centre-backs with them,
13:11the wide players would attack the space that then left.
13:14He's done loads of different things in a relatively short amount of time.
13:18And it all appears to get coached in really well.
13:21Like, imagine this with JoĂŁo Pedro and Cole Palmer as two centre-forwards who keep dropping in.
13:25And then Chelsea aren't exactly short of pacey wide forwards to exploit that, are they?
13:31Now, of course, there are caveats to all of this, aren't there?
13:34And the main one, I would say, is that doing this, all of these different things at Strasbourg,
13:40is really, really impressive.
13:43But doing it at Chelsea, with players of far bigger stature, expectation, and ego,
13:49is something else entirely.
13:51The scrutiny in the Premier League as well is such that the run he's just been on at Strasbourg,
13:56one win in the last seven, would have him under major pressure in this job.
14:01And if that's the kind of start he gets off to, some managers never recover from that.
14:06And also, if Robert Sanchez gets caught 50 yards from goal,
14:09more than once ever under Resinia, not only will he become a living meme,
14:15but you'll end up with an unnamed betting company doing billboards on buildings
14:21saying he doesn't know what the rules of football are, which are very mean.
14:24And again, some managers just never come back from that.
14:27As we keep seeing, it is very different here in the Premier League,
14:30and by different, I mean insane.
14:34And just really quickly, right, two off-the-pitch positives about Resinia.
14:39First off, this whole thing about English football and the English media being really scary.
14:45A, knows what it's like.
14:46He spent most of his career here.
14:48He'll probably be fine in that regard.
14:50And secondly, this whole question of having to manage up at Chelsea,
14:55which if you've never heard that term before,
14:57it's when your boss and their boss and their boss are either idiots, dickheads, or both, right?
15:03He's already part of the company.
15:05He knows exactly what he's letting himself in for here.
15:08I would imagine if that was a problem, he would not be taking this job.
15:13So, short term, I think he's a very steady pair of hands.
15:19We'll make sure the team is, if nothing else, playing to its own strengths,
15:22and that should maybe see a little bit more consistency come into the game.
15:25I can't see them struggling as a result of this appointment.
15:29And long term, that's up to him.
15:32He's a very young, very inexperienced manager.
15:35If he develops well and grows into the role, he could potentially take the club forward.
15:40But if he struggles with that part of it, if it's a bit above his level, then, yeah, could be
15:45tricky.
15:46But I think this season, at least, smart move.
15:48So, yes, there you go.
15:50That is how Chelsea will probably play under Liam Rossini.
15:54Defenders who can pass the ball, technical competence in the middle, attackers who want to get it on the run
15:59as they go for goal.
16:01All that good stuff.
16:02But let me know what you make of both the appointment and Chelsea's future chances.
16:07That's what I'm interested in in the comments down below.
16:09Can you push on now?
16:10Is Champions League assured?
16:11Will you have a good cup run?
16:12Are you going to win something?
16:14Let me know down below.
16:15And, of course, you can get me across all the social medias.
16:17At Adam Cleary.
16:18C-L-E-R-Y.
16:19Thanks once again to our lovers, platonically, FOTMOB, for giving us all that lovely data.
16:25We genuinely really like them.
16:26You should go get their app.
16:27The link is in the description.
16:28And until next time, my friends, probably really soon, the amount's going on at the minute.
16:34I should do one of these for Darren Fletcher, no doubt.
16:37I will see you very soon.
16:40Look out for each other out there.
16:43Only love.
16:44Ta-ra.
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