Exclusive interview with Liam Rosenior: Chelsea head coach feels ‘at home’ despite living in a hotel | Soccer News

In contrast to the drama surrounding Chelsea’s appointment as head coach of Liam Rosenior, things are relatively calm around Chelsea two weeks on.

It’s not like Rosenior hasn’t already been through a lot and packed it all in. With four games in four competitions and a huge number of media appearances all involved, he says there is definitely not enough time on the training pitch.

He is not keen on looking back or evaluating what has happened so far at Chelsea, preferring to live in the moment, but admitted he was “happy with the start”, adding: “It could have been worse!”

“6 out of 10? 7 out of 10?” we ask him in our exclusive chat ahead of Chelsea’s trip to Crystal Palace, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports this Sunday.

“If you say six, I’ll take six,” was his reply.

This looks fair – solid if not spectacular, and the one game Chelsea lost was the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Arsenal, with Chelsea having a chance to turn things around in a few weeks’ time.

Rosenior wondered how his new players would react to his arrival.

Sunday, January 25th 12:30pm

Kickoff at 2pm

Although Chelsea have a number of world-class stars who have won at the highest level, he says the “lack of egos within the group” means he already feels at home, despite living in a hotel (he hasn’t had time to look for a house yet) and getting a little too used to the Uber Eats menu.

“When I was a player, managers would come in and judge you right away. What they say, how they act, is he nervous, who is he talking to, is he going to be in the team, has he worked with this player before, is he a favorite? All these things happen in the first week. You’re always being judged by the players.”

So, who is the most memorable manager?

He said: “I remember when Reading and Brendan Rodgers first met, he had a list of things he wanted to work on and where he wanted us to get to. I was really impressed with how he delivered on that.”

“You’re being judged every moment, and people might say I’m overconfident, or insecure, or that I’m being real.

“The biggest deciding factor is how I see the players, and so far I think their reactions, their energy, their intensity, how they react when they lose the ball, their human values, they’re everything I was looking for.”

He also remembers how his early experiences at Fulham helped him.

“I was a young player who had just joined Fulham and the most humble and down-to-earth player was Edwin van der Sar, who was actually the best goalkeeper in the world at the time. I feel the same here. The better the player, the more The more I want to learn about them, the more realistic I become. Their image is different from them, so I want to know who they are and bring out the best in them. I want to do well for them.” Each other and my job is only to strengthen it. ”

There were some fresh starts for the current team. Rosenior will be the fifth permanent manager under this ownership, but what kind of manager will they get and will young Rosenior want to play for him?

“For me, I’m myself. I’m not afraid to make fun of myself sometimes. I’m not afraid to laugh with the players. I’m also not afraid to make demands, to yell when I need to, to raise the tone of my voice. I’ve already lost my voice several times in the last few days.”

When I cheekily assert that Chelsea are quiet these days, he smiles for a moment before returning to his cool demeanor and replies: “Hopefully that will change. The fans have been great both home and away. I understand that they are doubting a lot of things right now. I understand everything and this is a very high-achieving football club so that’s normal. From what I’ve seen so far, I’m very confident that we can be really successful.”

Knowing what he wanted to do from a young age, Rosenior began to study all the coaches and managers who had crossed his path over the years, including his father Leroy. Rosenior admits that he has learned just as much from the not-so-great players as opposed to all the good ones, including his father.

“When a team feels that their leader cares about them, not only on the pitch but also off the pitch, that’s when the team performs at its best. I want to build a team like we had at Strasbourg. I know we’re not at the same level at Hull, we know we’re not at the same level at Derby, but if you look at these teams through management, they were all running for each other,” he said.

“They all seemed to enjoy what they did, and that’s what I want here.”

It’s normal for Chelsea’s head coach to take time to build a culture, but he seems to be making the most of every moment with his players.

He said: “Some of them joke that they’ve never talked to a manager this much in a short period of time. They’re probably tired of me by now. That’s how I manage and that won’t change, but that doesn’t mean I’m their best friend.”

Chelsea fans will be hoping this approach will help rekindle Cole Palmer.

Since joining from Manchester City in 2023, he has taken the Premier League by storm and has been nothing short of sensational at times.

After a fantastic Club World Cup season where he was named Player of the Year, he has been plagued by injuries, playing just 13 games and scoring five goals, making just four full appearances.

More than that, anyone who saw his goal in Chelsea’s recent win over Brentford saw his body language off and his trademark goal celebrations nowhere to be seen. That was before the newspaper reported that Palmer was moving to Manchester United, the club he had supported since childhood.

Rosenior has already spent much of the press conference explaining how his superstar Palmer is happy at Chelsea, contrary to rumors, but admitted the last few months have been difficult.

It is not the first time the forward has been linked with a move, but Rosenior insists Palmer is here to stay and the best is yet to come.

“Cole is a great player. He’s very down-to-earth, he’s got a really good family around him, he’s got great values, he likes his job, he loves playing football. My job as a coach is to win games, to get the best out of the players. If they get the best out of their potential, in the end they’re going to win games. So you’ll understand right away that not just Cole, but every member of the team is important to me.”

“It’s not just how they perform on the pitch, how they’ve trained, how they’ve played, but how happy they are in life. It’s the best job in the world. I’m too old to play football. I didn’t enjoy it enough and I don’t think it’s really easy to play football. I realized I’m at my best when I’m quiet. So it’s not about being their best friend or having a shoulder to lean on, it’s about being able to get to know someone to a level where you can push them beyond what they’re probably used to. So it’s the same for Cole and for all the players.

Confidence is starting to return to the team, which went into last weekend’s game against Brentford with nine wins and one loss in the Premier League. However, after a tough Champions League game against Paphos in midweek, Rosenior reminded his squad, including some of their biggest stars, that they had only recently been lifted from the Club World Cup and Conference League.

He doesn’t believe his team is far off, especially in what has proven to be a very open league this season. The next challenge for Rosenior and his team is to find form away from Stamford Bridge. Their last away league win was against Burnley on November 22nd, but that will need to be rectified if their ambitions this season are Champions League.

The match begins on Sunday at Crystal Palace.

Watch Crystal Palace vs Chelsea live on Sky Sports Premier League from 1pm on Sunday. Kickoff at 2pm