Chelsea 3-2 West Ham: Liam Rosenior in-game changes inspire Blues to Premier League win
It’s been a start to life as a Premier League manager for Liam Rosenior.
Saturday’s thrilling comeback win against West Ham was Chelsea’s third straight league win since the 41-year-old replaced Enzo Maresca at the start of January.
And in one of their biggest tests to date, it was his drastic substitutions at half-time that saw the Blues recover from 2-0 down to win 3-2 and take them into the top four.
After making seven changes in their midweek Champions League win at Napoli, a limp first-half performance allowed relegation-threatened West Ham to rightfully take control.
But Rosenior, who made three changes at half-time, inspired a comeback in which substitutes Marc Cucurella and Joao Pedro brought Chelsea level with a goal each, before Enzo Fernandez’s dramatic injury-time winner.
The criticisms could be leveled as Chelsea were booed in a poor first half, fully deserving of being two goals down and raising further questions about the quality of the squad.
After the match, Rosenior downplayed the significance of the substitutions and instead credited the mentality of the players since his arrival.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned is that there’s a spirit, a fight and a resilience in this group that I really love,” he said. “I demanded this from the first day I took office.
“We didn’t do a lot of training, but we talked about reacting positively to setbacks.
“We talked about reactions to losing the ball, pressure, energy and intensity. All of that was there in the second half, not in the first half. I don’t just attribute it to the changes I made.”
Overall, Rosenior’s first reign, now four weeks old, was characterized by very good results and effective in-game adjustments.
His predecessor, Maresca, ended his tenure following a breakdown in relations with team ownership and losing a league-high 15 points from winning positions; This led to frequent criticism of his mid-match decisions.
Former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Liam Rosenior hasn’t exactly gone back to Chelsea’s best team, but to the system that Chelsea know and feel comfortable with. He feels like a tactical genius now because they’ve won.”
