Chelsea Manager Rosenior Rounds on Players After Costly Draw
Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior delivered a scathing assessment of his team's defensive performance on Saturday, blaming specific players for failing to execute basic assignments during their 1-1 draw with Burnley at Stamford Bridge.
Missed Marking Assignment Proves Costly
The visitors' Dutch striker Zian Flemming was left completely unmarked to meet James Ward-Prowse's corner and score Burnley's equaliser, despite Chelsea having sent on both Jos Acheampong and Mamadou Sarr to add height following Wesley Fofana's red card. Chelsea's hapless defence then almost conceded a Burnley winner when a replica corner by Ward-Prowse was headed over by Jacob Bruun Larsen.
An angry Rosenior said: 'An assignment was missed. An assignment - a marking assignment - wasn't done. Flemming, we know, is their best header of the ball. And there was a player who I won't… I'm not here to throw players under the bus, I will always protect my players, I will deal with it in the week. There was a player we assigned that duty who marked the wrong player.'
Lack of Accountability in Key Moments
The Chelsea manager offered more barbed criticism of his players by claiming he had noticed how some were not being 'accountable' when dealing with high-pressure situations. He said: 'There are too many instances where we've conceded goals from moments of lack of concentration and accountability. You need to have players you can rely on in the moment to do a job. There are certain values you need to have in your team. It's down to assessing players and the ones you assess in the right moment. We need players who in key moments can see things through.'
Manager Defends Tactical Decisions
The 41-year-old manager insisted he had done his own job in protecting his side – despite a reshuffle after Wesley Fofana's dismissal which left six defenders on the field, including four centre halves. He said his planning was based on knowing that 'the only way Burnley were going to score in that moment was from a Ward-Prowse set play.' The equaliser, which followed Leeds United's come-back here, brought boos on the final whistle.
Rosenior explained his defensive approach: 'I've tried to go as big as possible. Reece [James] was stretching and I wanted to make sure I protected him. Pedro Neto was stretching. I needed to protect him. We had enough on the pitch to deal with that moment and we didn't. This cost us two more points. It's not good enough for a club of this level. I'm learning about the players - the people you can lean on when things are not going your way.'
Burnley Manager Praises Team Resilience
Burnley manager Scott Parker praised the way his players had fought back, after the shock of FA Cup defeat to Mansfield last weekend. He said: 'We've come into this big league and fallen a bit short but what we have not fallen short on is resilience, though the pressure has increased ten-fold at times.'
He acknowledged Ward-Prowse's excellence from the set-piece: 'You can come up with all the set-piece coaches but fundamentally you need the ball delivered on the money. Then you've got a chance.'
