The players emerged to packed stands on every side of Stamford Bridge. The Champions League music tingled. Flamethrowers lit up the sky. The night bristled with possibility for approximately five minutes.
That was how long it took for PSG to breach Chelsea’s defence. Mamadou Sarr blinked at a high ball like the dying sun before miscontrolling into the path of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who whipped a first-time finish beyond Robert Sanchez. The energy drained out of the stadium. There would be groans, ironic cheers, boos and expletives hurled into the night sky before the end of this damning 3-0 defeat.
It is not about mistakes but how you respond to them, Liam Rosenior had written in his pre-match programme notes. Chelsea responded by making another one. Moises Caicedo dithered in midfield before turning over possession and PSG broke menacingly. A few seconds later Bradley Barcola was trapping Achraf Hakimi’s pass on the edge of the box before driving the ball into the top corner in one beautifully succinct motion.
PSG had two and the night was over quicker than the time it takes to walk from Fulham Broadway station.
PSG were too quick, too sharp, their default setting too intense for Chelsea to cope with. At one point during the first half, Kvaratskhelia dribbled across the pitch evading five Chelsea defenders like the most talented kid in the playground, going nowhere but antagonising players and fans in equal measure. Moments later, he scored a clever goal which was deemed offside. It was minute 31, Chelsea were 7-2 down on aggregate, and their fans had begun olé-ing their own passes.
On the touchline, Liam Rosenior barked instructions that his players couldn’t really hear. He clutched a largely blank notepad. He pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his forehead. He wore an entire Zara. Occasionally he burst into little bouts of fury before sitting back down in a huff, tugging at the zip on his short-cut jacket (navy, M).
“Six minutes in and another mistake that we make, it takes the wind out of our sails, and then I think the second goal is hit from 25 yards in the top corner,” Rosenior said. “When you go two goals down so early – already five goals down on aggregate – it makes it a really, really difficult evening. We wanted to obviously have more of a fight than what we did. Credit to PSG, their possession play was really top in the game, and over the two legs they deserved to go through.”
Chelsea fans will ask the question: is Rosenior the right man for the job? Not all of this debacle was necessarily his fault. How could he account for PSG’s first goal, when Sarr’s eyes flitted to Kvaratskhelia and back to the ball in panic? How could he plan for Caicedo handing over possession with his team prone? What could he do as his players missed the final pass or finishing touch at the end of each promising move?
But this was a humiliating hiding by a far superior team and Rosenior’s methods will come under scrutiny now. After winning five of his first seven games in charge, Chelsea have won only two of their past seven. They’ve lost three matches in seven days. Their only notable win since early February was the 4-1 victory over Aston Villa earlier this month.
It is not just the downturn in results that is cause for alarm. The manner of the weekend defeat at Newcastle, who sliced breezily through the soft centre of Rosenior’s team, was striking and provoked a damning segment of analysis by Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football. Thierry Henry criticised Rosenior for turning his back on the play.
The selection of Filip Jorgensen in the first leg of this tie was a gamble that failed spectacularly. PSG may still have won the contest but Chelsea should have been taking a competitive scoreline back home, and Jorgensen’s second-half mistake cost them dearly. And although injuries to Reece James and Malo Gusto forced the issue, perhaps this wasn’t the night to hand the 20-year-old Sarr his Champions League debut.
Then there have been the off-field distractions: line-up leaks, the comical pre-match huddle around referee Paul Tierney, some odd press conference answers. Rosenior’s giggling post-match interviews beside his players struck an odd note in the early weeks. No one element is damning, but they blend together to paint a picture of an inexperienced manager still trying to assert his authority.
“I’m learning all the time,” Rosenior said. “What I’m learning is that you have to have players that in every moment you can rely on to make correct decisions defensively. But it’s also to be clinical. They [PSG] were clinical in both games … That’s the level.”
Taking over a side in the middle of a season – a team who weren’t exactly floundering under Enzo Maresca – was never going to be entirely smooth. Rosenior will argue he deserves time. He has been handed a young squad lacking leaders, lacking trophy-winning experience. But there is no escaping the pressure at a job like Chelsea, even at this early stage, two months into the job.
There is still the possibility of an FA Cup triumph, with a quarter-final against Port Vale to come next month. Finishing in the top five of the Premier League remains the priority, although on this evidence that may require Liverpool or Aston Villa collapsing in the final weeks to make it happen.
Because this was undoubtedly the nadir of Rosenior’s short reign. The second half was no better than the first. Rosenior took off Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez and Joao Pedro, waving the white flag as Chelsea fans jeered. A minute later, PSG substitute Senny Mayulu added a precise third.
The match finished with Trevor Chalobah, Chelsea’s best defender, leaving the pitch on a stretcher looking distraught. Rosenior patted him on the chest as he was carried past the dugout. Then the manager puffed out his cheeks and walked back to his seat. Somehow, a disastrous night had found a way to get a little worse.
