Liam Rosenior is not bothered by the abundance of jokes being had at his expense – with Chelsea’s head coach comfortable enough to chuckle at himself while working towards having the last laugh.
Despite taking a perfect Premier League record into his next trip to Wolves, Rosenior has endured a ruthless welcome during his first month in charge of the Blues, often finding himself the punchline.
There have been social media memes mocking him up as Will from The Inbetweeners and David Brent from The Office for his press conference musings. He has been teased for saying ‘manage’ means you are ‘ageing men’ at Strasbourg, for trying a Lego team-building session at Hull, and, most recently, for failing to control the ball midway through Chelsea’s Carabao Cup semi-final loss to Arsenal on Tuesday.
Footage of that mishap inevitably went viral, and Rosenior has now revealed how even his own player, the 18-year-old Brazilian Estevao Willian, jokingly asked him if he really used to play professional football.
While the level of targeting from the outside is arguably verging on harsh on a manager who has merely been himself, Rosenior says he does not mind it all.
‘The lads have played it back to me on the video and we’ve had a laugh about it,’ Rosenior said of that clip with the ball at Arsenal. ‘Estevao said he can’t believe that I was a professional footballer.
Liam Rosenior went viral after failing to control the ball during Chelsea’s clash with Arsenal
‘You’ve got to (laugh at yourself). This is a great job. I love this job. I am serious in many aspects and demanding in many aspects. Life is too short. You have to enjoy life. You have to be able to laugh at yourself. At the moment, a lot of people in this country have been laughing at me.’
Nevertheless, Rosenior is clearly a coach confident in his own abilities and thick-skinned enough to ignore the external noise as he works towards improving Chelsea.
One new introduction since his arrival has been how his players now perform their pre-kick-off huddle directly in the middle of the centre circle. That idea seemingly originated from Willie Isa, the former rugby league player who now works with Chelsea as a de facto ‘cultural architect’, in conjunction with the squad’s leaders including Reece James, Enzo Fernandez and Marc Cucurella.
‘Willie Isa is a top guy,’ Rosenior explained. ‘He comes from New Zealand where the culture of togetherness and spirit is crucial. He’s spoken with the leadership group about different things we do. There are many, many things that aren’t seen, and that’s one of the many things that has been seen in terms of what we’re trying to create here.
‘For me, everything is psychological, everything starts with the mind. If your mind is in a good place, the rest takes care of itself. The psychological aspect, we have to attack this game in exactly the same way that we attack every game – with the right mindset.’
With Jamie Gittens now sidelined by a hamstring tear, Alejandro Garnacho may be needed much more on the left wing. He has faced criticism of late and, when asked whether the £40million summer signing is afraid of trying to beat his man at the moment, Rosenior leaped to his defence.
‘You’re making your own viewpoint on what you see,’ he said before addressing Garnacho’s previous performance versus West Ham where he faced Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
‘I saw Garna take the game forwards. I saw him reach really, really good positions where, by the way, he’s one-v-one against one of the best one-v-one defenders in world football. I’ve got full backing of him and I will always protect my players. He just needs to get some games and some rhythm. I back him to have a really good second half of the season.’
Asked for Garnacho’s ceiling, Rosenior added: ‘Ceiling is limitless in life.’
Mamadou Sarr, who returned to Chelsea from his loan with Strasbourg in the January window to be reunited with Rosenior, has trained with his new team-mates before Wolves. Sarr’s arrival is an early indication of the influence that Rosenior will enjoy within the club’s recruitment department.
‘Everybody knows what I think about Mamadou,’ Rosenior said. ‘I think he’s got the potential to be a world class centre-back. I’m delighted he’s here. I thank the sporting directors and ownership for supporting what I thought was the right thing for us and for him and his career.
‘I see a growth in Mamadou. I see a growth even in his performance in the AFCON final. I see a growth in his physicality. I see a growth in his tactical understanding. There was an area of the pitch I felt we could strengthen in our own way. He will get his opportunity but he knows he has to fight for it because we’ve got many outstanding centre-backs in our group.’
