Liam Rosenior: Furious Chelsea boss questions team’s desire

Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior said his team’s performance was both “indefensible” and “unacceptable” as he faced angry chants from his own fans for the first time.

The chants began after Chelsea fell 1-0 behind at the Amex Stadium, with the visitors yet to score and losing 3-0 on Tuesday night.

It was a worrying sight and a further decline in performance ensued as Chelsea did not have a shot on target until the 40th minute and were prone to defensive errors.

Chelsea extended their worst run since 1912 to a run of five consecutive defeats without scoring a goal.

The match was played in front of influential co-owner Behdad Eghbali and the club’s sporting directors on the south coast, where Rosenior began his coaching career.

As a result, questions will mount as to whether the Englishman can remain in the dugout for the long term and will have his last chance to salvage the season in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Leeds at Wembley.

In response to questions about such a poor performance, Rosenior said: “It was unacceptable in every aspect of the game, it was unacceptable in terms of our attitude. “I constantly come out and defend the players.

“Our performance tonight is untenable. The way we conceded goals, the amount of duels we lost, the lack of intensity in the team. Something needs to change radically now.

“I think the players also need to look in the mirror and see what they put in. You can talk about tactics, tactics come after the fundamentals. Having more courage to play, winning duels, winning headers, making tackles, conceding terrible goals. Tonight was an unacceptable performance.”

Sven is behind fifth-placed Liverpool, having played a game more, Chelsea’s Champions League hopes look in tatters and there are questions about whether the manager, players or fans are on the same page.