Merely two months after being appointed the Chelsea manager, Liam Rosenior’s future is already in doubt. To many, this was inevitable. The Englishman never had the resume to take on a job of this magnitude. Yes, he had done reasonably well at both Strasbourg and Hull City. Expectations are at a different level at Stamford Bridge. Unsurprisingly, he has not been able to meet them.
Rosenior had started quite well. But even back then, the wins had come through individual brilliance rather than great team performances.
A couple of months on, and that early form has completely faded away. Chelsea have won just one of their last five Premier League games, leaving their Champions League qualification hopes hanging by a thread. They are most likely going to be knocked out of the competition by PSG, after losing the first leg 5-2. And the narrow win over 10-man Wrexham raised more questions than provide answers.
Reports have already emerged suggesting there are internal doubts about Rosenior. He might not be the Chelsea manager when next season comest around. But could the BlueCo management do the unthinkable and repeat their mistake when appointing his replacement?
Gary O’Neil suggested as next Chelsea manager
What Chelsea need right now is a top manager. Someone used to winning things and competing at the high level. That is the kind of coach that has worked at Stamford Bridge over the years. Jose Mourinho. Carlo Ancelotti. Antonio Conte. Thomas Tuchel. All with serial winners.
But while discussing the likely candidate on the latest episode of talkSPORT’s Inside Chelsea, Matisse Armani said: “It would probably be Gary O’Neil at Strasbourg.”
There are serious concerns though whether any manager could succeed under this BlueCo model. Take Maresca, for example. He exceeded all expectations in his debut season, winning a couple of trophies and securing Champions League football. He should have been backed in the summer transfer window.
Instead, the club went out and signed a bunch of squad players. They also chose to overlook the need to sign a centre-back after Levi Colwill got injured, something that Maresca had openly asked for in the media. There had been rumours of disagreements behind the scenes before the Italian was sacked.
As Armani pointed out: “They’re certainly not getting the backing in the windows with the transfers to put this team on another level, in terms of elevating it to a world-class status.
“We’re not bringing in starters, we’re bringing in squad players, and we’ve done that for the last two summer windows.”
Appointing O’Neil would be another mistake
O’Neil is currently the Strasbourg manager. It is easy to see why Chelsea might target him. He is someone familiar with the BlueCo, the main reason Rosenior was brought in.
By all accounts, O’Neil has done well at Strasbourg. That won’t automatically translate to Chelsea though, as we have seen with Rosenior.
The biggest problem at Chelsea right now is the think-tank. They seem far too concerned with reinventing the wheel rather than focusing on success. This BlueCo model is not working. It never has. But there seems to be a reluctance to accept that. Everybody seems to be working under the assumption that it will start producing results, given time. Unfortunately, there is not much evidence pointing in that direction. Four years in, the Blues have taken a step backwards as a football club.
If you ask me, as long as BlueCo continue following this model of signing only youngsters and hiring managers ready to work under this structure, Chelsea will never see that success that they did under Roman Abramovich. Those are just my two cents on this matter.
