Liam Rosenior will be feeling mighty relieved after watching his Chelsea side go from being booed off at half-time to beating West Ham 3-2 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday night.
Having beaten Napoli with a second-half comeback on Wednesday night in the Champions League, Liam Rosenior will have been hoping for an easier night when the Blues played host to West Ham this evening.
However, it was anything but an easy night. West Ham scored inside the first six minutes through captain Jarrod Bowen, before former Leeds United winger Crysencio Summerville made it 2-0 before the break.
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Chelsea were staring at a first Premier League defeat under the guidance of Rosenior, but the Chelsea boss made changes. Pedro Neto came on after 26 minutes, while Rosenior made three more at half-time.
Pat Nevin heaps praise on Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior
Rosenior made some surprise changes, rotating once again, given the efforts of Wednesday. Jorrel Hato, Alejandro Garnacho, Benoit Badiashile, and Jamie Gittens all started but were subbed by half-time.
Pat Nevin at the Premier League match between Everton and Southampton.
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One of those subs, Joao Pedro, continued his stunning form with a fifth goal under Rosenior before another sub, Marc Cucurella, made it 2-2. Then in injury time, Enzo Fernandez scored Chelsea’s winner.
It was Rosenior’s changes that caused Chelsea to go into the break 2-0 down, but it was his subs at half-time that saw Chelsea go on to win the game. Pat Nevin was on co-commentary duty for the win.
Nevin told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Rosenior went back to not exactly Chelsea’s best team, but what Chelsea knew and the system they feel comfortable in. It now feels like tactical genius because they have won.”
Liam Rosenior must rotate, but he cannot rotate too much
Ever since he arrived at Stamford Bridge as manager, Rosenior has been forced to rotate. The Charlton game, his first, was one of six matches in the space of 18 days. Today is the first of five games in 14 days.
Garnacho is having a horrible time of things…
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Of course, Rosenior needs to rotate and take advantage of the squad depth at his disposal. But against West Ham, he learned a valuable lesson. He cannot rotate too much, or he will find himself losing games.
Six wins in seven prove that Rosenior got it right in the end, and on the whole, he has got it right. But it will also serve as a reminder that in the next few weeks, he has to keep the rotation to the right level.
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