Liam Rosenior’s start to life as Chelsea manager is one of the most talked about parts of the Premier League at this stage of the season.
By all accounts, the new boss has enjoyed a very successful start to life at Stamford Bridge. Rosenior has even been nominated for the Manager of the Month award for January in the Premier League.
On the other hand, there are the negatives of the EFL Cup semi-final tie against Arsenal, where the Blues were beaten in both ties.
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Liam Rosenior's record at Chelsea
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Rosenior was criticised for his tactics in the second leg, where he brought a number of unique approaches to the game despite being a goal down in the tie.
Liam Rosenior Head Coach of Chelsea with Cole Palmer
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Gary Lineker impressed by clever ‘Liam Rosenior’ tactic vs Arsenal
One notable tactic which tried to catch the Gunners out was how they set up to defend corners, an area Arsenal have been very strong this season.
After Rosenior instructed three of his defenders to leave the box just before the corner was taken, Gary Lineker described the approach as ‘clever’.
He told The Rest is Football: “Arsenal, as we know, are brilliant from set pieces and he (Rosenior) did an interesting tactic from corners.
“I mean, I’ve seen it done before, but whenever they conceded a corner, Chelsea would put three players on the halfway line and create meant obviously that Arsenal had to go back.
“Funnily enough, I remember trying the very same thing. We did it in training with Terry Venables at Barcelona. He did it way more. He put five up. He said, “Let’s see what they do now.” We tried it in training all week and by the end of the week he went, “Not sure. Let’s not do it.’ But Rosenior did it.
“I mean it’s nothing new, but it’s an interesting tactic I think particularly against Arsenal because they crowd your goalkeeper and it means you can’t really do that because you can’t immediately Arsenal put three well they have to put four back because you always need one more behind.
“So I thought it was you know he’s obviously trying to think things through on that and I think that’s quite a clever way of defending against Arsenal.”
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Rosenior under pressure to deliver vs Wolves
Despite a perfect start outside of the EFL Cup tie, the pressure remains on the new manager to continue to deliver.
Even though he has won every single game in the Premier League so far, the Blues could still drop out of the Champions League spots if they lose on Saturday.
Rosenior will be well aware that he will be judged based on whether he finishes in the top five or not, and the majority of his focus will be on that.
The hope is that this weekend will be as comfortable as they come for Chelsea. They take on Wolves, who currently sit bottom of the Premier League.
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