When Chelsea replaced Enzo Maresca with Liam Rosenior, a lot of eyebrows were raised at the decision. The English manager was with the Blues’ sister club, Strasbourg, at that point. And to be very honest, he did not have the resume to get the Stamford Bridge job.
Yes, Rosenior had exceeded expectations at both Strasbourg and Hull City. But that does not necessarily qualify you for the Chelsea hot seat, arguably the toughest job in world football right now.
To be fair to Rosenior, he made a bright start to life at Chelsea. But as I had pointed out even back then, a lot of those early wins came on the back of individual brilliance. Sooner or later, that was going to fade away and the Blues would need to win as a team.
As expected, those moments of individual brilliance have become far rarer in recent weeks. Unfortunately, that has also caused a downturn in form for Chelsea. And even though it has only been two months since Rosenior got the job, questions are now being raised about his future.
Sky Sport drop update on Liam Rosenior’s situation
As reported by Sacha Tavolieri on Sky Sport, according to several sources close to Chelsea, serious concerns are emerging internally about the ability of Rosenior to lead the sports project in the long term. Some influential figures in the Blues’ organisation chart would even believe that the English manager may no longer be in office next season.
Of course, this is far from ideal. When Chelsea continuously chopped and changed managers under the previous ownership, it was justified by the constant success on the pitch. During the BlueCo era, it has been marked by one failure after another. After Graham Potter, Frank Lampard, Mauricio Pochettino and Enzo Maresca, it looks like Rosenior is also headed for the exit door much sooner than he would have hoped.
Chelsea badly need a change in strategy
Part of being a good football club owner is recognising when something isn’t working. But since the BlueCo takeover, we have seen them stick to their ways, no matter the results on the pitch. Despite spending record sums of money, Chelsea have taken several steps backward over the past four years. Now rumours are cropping up about key players, the few they have, wanting to leave. It is understandable why they would.
At times, it feels like Chelsea have become a club focused on their structure and transfer model rather than aiming to win trophies. And calls for change from the fans have been overlooked.
At this point, one has to wonder if any manager is capable of surviving in this model? Maresca had overdelivered in his first season, winning two trophies and securing a Champions League spot. He should have been backed in the summer.
Instead, even minimum expectations were not met. His calls for another centre-back, when Levi Colwill got injured, were overlooked. Do you think Manchester City would have approached things in similar fashion? Or would they have gone out and signed a top defender? I think we all know the answer to that.
