Liam Rosenior picked up his biggest win as Chelsea manager so far on Wednesday night.
The Englishman’s side were able to beat Napoli 3-2 at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium to finish sixth in the Champions League table.
It means Chelsea will not have to compete in a play-off tie to reach the round of 16.
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Joao Pedro was the hero for the Blues after a second-half brace helped the team to come back from 2-1 down.
Joao Pedro of Chelsea poses for a photo
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Liam Rosenior has had four conversations with Joao Pedro since arriving at Chelsea
Right now, Rosenior is getting the best out of Pedro, who has scored four goals under his new manager.
After the Napoli game, Rosenior revealed that he has already had four private conversations with the forward in his office.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, which has been shared by football.london, the Chelsea head coach said: “I think I’ve had very, very good conversations with him already, probably four in my office. I think he’s sick of my office, where I’ve said to him, if you play with intensity, with your quality, the quality comes out.”
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Napoli 2-3 Chelsea
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What Rosenior has said to Pedro seems to be having an impact on the 24-year-old. There is no doubt that he has been Chelsea’s best attacker since Rosenior’s arrival at Stamford Bridge.
The former Strasbourg boss did not get everything right in Naples. Wesley Fofana was the only recognised centre-back who started the match, for example.
The decision to leave the likes of Trevoh Chalobah and Benoit Badiashile on the bench backfired, but Rosenior changed things in the second half, which was key to Chelsea coming back.
Liam Rosenior, Manager of Chelsea, speaks to the media
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Joao Pedro’s full stats vs Napoli
In the end, it was quite a complete performance from Pedro, who did more than score. The Brazilian was constantly involved in the game and even helped out defensively.
According to Sofascore, Pedro had 50 touches of the ball, completed both of the dribbles that he attempted and was fouled five times.
In terms of his defensive contributions, he made four in total. The Brazil international also won nine out of 13 ground duels.
It was the kind of display that you want to see from your centre-forward away from home.
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