LONDON, Jan 10 : Liam Rosenior enjoyed a 5-1 win at Charlton Athletic in his first match in charge of Chelsea but Saturday’s FA Cup thrashing of a side struggling in the second tier of English football is unlikely to tell him much about the bigger challenges ahead.
Rosenior, peering through a freezing mist that descended on The Valley, had the luxury of bringing on some of the world’s most talented players to finish Charlton off.
Stoppage-time goals from substitutes Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez underscored the gulf in talent – and resources – between the sides from southwest and southeast London.
Earlier, Chelsea – eight-times FA Cup winners – went 2-0 up through goals from defenders Jorrel Hato and Tosin Adarabioyo before Charlton briefly gave themselves some help when Miles Leaburn stabbed home, only for Chelsea to restore their two-goal cushion through Marc Guiu.
Rosenior left some of Chelsea’s regular starters out of the squad altogether as he allowed Cole Palmer, Reece James and Malo Gusto time to recover from knocks they picked up in last Wednesday’s 2-1 Premier League defeat at Fulham.
Others such as Joao Pedro and Trevoh Chalobah never made it off the bench, giving Rosenior a chance to assess some of the backup players in his squad.
“I believe in this group, I believe in all of them and if we want to have a really strong season we need to use them,” he told reporters. “We need to put faith into them and they repaid my faith today.”
Rosenior said he had challenged his players to show more resilience in the face of setbacks and to play with more intensity which they did against Charlton.
“It’s a good start but it’s just a start and we have to stay consistent in a very, very hectic schedule,” he said.
Rosenior’s Chelsea face a stiffer test on Wednesday when they host Arsenal in a League Cup semi-final first leg before ther visit of in-form Brentford in the Premier League next Saturday.
Rosenior took over at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday – following the departure of Enzo Maresca on New Year’s Day – having previously been in charge of French club Racing Strasbourg which is controlled by the same consortium as Chelsea.
Blues fans, packed behind one of the goals at Charlton on Saturday, once again vented their frustration at the U.S. private-equity led BlueCo group. Many supporters have questioned the wisdom of the club’s strategy of focusing on young players.
Maresca left the club shortly after he complained of not being supported. Chelsea have won one only one of their last nine Premier League games and sit eighth in the table.
(Writing by William Schomberg, editing by Ed Osmond)
