Liam Rosenior has engineered a remarkable downturn in Chelsea’s fortunes over the past few weeks, but the only way his job would be in jeopardy, according to a report a couple days ago from The Telegraph, is if that downturn continued to spiral into a full-on “implosion”.
Which … well … have we looked at the last seven games of the Premier League season? After the international break, it’s Manchesters City (h) and United (h), then Brighton (a), Forest (h), Liverpool (a), Spurs (h), and Sunderland
(a). On current form, there aren’t too many points in there, except for maybe the three against Spurs that could yet relegate them. That would be even more amusing than confirming Leicester City’s title in 2015-16 with Eden Hazard’s equalizer at the Battle of the Bridge. But schadenfreude doesn’t pay the bills and it certainly doesn’t represent progress for the future.
As has been the case for all other BlueCo appointees, managerial reviews don’t get conducted until after at least 12 months on the job (but sometimes 24) … at least that’s always the plan, unless you do as badly as Graham Potter. Or you walk away like Mauricio Pochettino. Or Enzo Maresca (who’s being blamed entirely for our current predicament by he club, apparently). Or, in effect, Thomas Tuchel.
Can Rosenior last longer than those four? He has a very low bar to clear — Champions League qualification not a requirement either — but he’ll have to do a bit more than talk a lot in press conferences and play Football Manager on the touchline. We did not “choose him” as a “three- or four-month appointment” after all.
The report adds that the club are “desperate to improve the mental resilience of the squad” and are looking to add a defender, a midfielder, and a forward this summer, in addition to bringing in wily veteran Mike Penders, 20 at goalkeeper. So just every position then, ey? Wonder if the combined age of four such incoming players would be under or over 100. Hint: don’t take the over.
