LONDON — Chelsea coach Liam Rosenior has seen the memes. He has seen the online comparisons to David Brent from the British version of “The Office.” He knows that people have been widely laughing at him on social media. His children were the ones who showed him.
“They love it! There was one about my dress sense where they said I had decent dress sense and my daughter thought that was hilarious,” he told his prematch news conference on Friday. “She hates my dress sense!”
For all the laughter, though, Rosenior has delivered on his promise to secure wins for Chelsea — he now has six victories in his first seven games across all competitions since he first stood on the touchline earlier this month.
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Saturday’s 3-2 victory over West Ham United was the first time in Premier League history that Chelsea have come back from two goals down at halftime to win. After Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over Napoli in the UEFA Champions League, it’s also the second time in a week that Chelsea have rallied from behind and left with a victory.
Few, surely, will be laughing now.
”I hope in time they [the fans] will say it’s the best decision this club’s ever made, but I can’t focus on that,” Rosenior said after the game about his hiring.
It was a game of two halves for Chelsea, who were unquestionably dreadful in the first 45 minutes. The fans let them know about it when referee Anthony Taylor blew the whistle, with boos loudly ringing out at Stamford Bridge. West Ham were deserving of their two-goal advantage: A cross from Jarrod Bowen found the back of the net in the seventh minute, followed by a well-taken effort from Crysencio Summerville.
Alejandro Garnacho lost possession 12 times before being subbed at the break. Liam Delap looked isolated and ineffective, touching the ball just eight times. The center back pairing of Benoît Badiashile and Trevoh Chalobah looked shaky, allowing a multitude of chances. If anything, they were lucky to be just two goals down.
Rosenior wasn’t shy to change things. Standing on the touchline in a suave overcoat, blue pants and white sneakers, he made three substitutions at halftime. He is on record as saying he is keen on early substitutions.
“If you look at my managerial history, I’ve always made early changes,” he said on Friday.
“At Strasbourg, it was the same. The players already understand with me that, if you’re taken off at halftime, it’s tactical.”
Here, all three halftime subs paid off. He brought on defenders Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana, as well as striker João Pedro, and all three of Chelsea’s goals featured one of the replacements.
First, in the 57th minute, Fofana delivered a perfectly floated cross to the back post for Pedro to nod home. The second came 13 minutes later when Cucurella reacted quickest to rebound off the bar and delivered the equalizer with a diving header.
It was the first time in over three years that two Chelsea substitutes scored in the same game in the Premier League.
Liam Rosenior is now unbeaten in his past five matches as Chelsea head coach. (Photo by Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
In the end, it was Enzo Fernández who bagged the winner in the second minute of added time. He arrived in the opposition 18-yard box at just the right time to convert Pedro’s pass across the area.
When Rosenior replaced Enzo Maresca on the touchline at Chelsea earlier this month, it was met by many with amusement rather than excitement. Maresca had guided Chelsea to a top-four finish, won the UEFA Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup, and been linked with replacing Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
Meanwhile, Rosenior’s résumé consisted of a stint as Wayne Rooney’s assistant at Derby County, a semi-successful spell managing Hull City and a promising 18-month tenure at Chelsea’s sister club, Strasbourg.
His record since taking the dugout at Stamford Bridge speaks for itself, though. He is now enjoying a five-game winning run and has the best start on paper since Maurizio Sarri in 2018.
“For a manager to come in midway through a season with not many sessions and have six wins out of seven games, it’s not a bad way to start,” Rosenior added.
”As long as the team shows the fight and the energy and the intensity that they did in that second half, the fans show that they’ll be with us and they’ll support us, and I’m really enjoying being part of this football club.”
There is still an element of respect for him to earn. He has been granted a largely welcoming run of fixtures to begin his career at Stamford Bridge — his only defeat, against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semifinal first leg, was one of two games he has had against top-quality opposition.
Saturday’s victory will set up his biggest test so far: the Carabao Cup semifinal second leg away to Arsenal, in which they need to overturn a 3-2 deficit.
”Someone’s just told me it’s the first time in Premier League history we’ve won from two goals down at home,” Rosenior said.
“It’s a massive thing to do, to see the heart, the mentality, the spirit of the group and their quality in the second half makes me a very, very happy man.”
