Why have things already turned sour for Liam Rosenior at Chelsea?

New manager bounce is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot. But Liam Rosenior is currently proving that it is a real thing at Stamford Bridge. The Englishman replaced Enzo Maresca as Chelsea head coach in January and hit the ground running. 

Aside from a defeat to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, the early weeks of his tenure brought wins over Charlton and his former club Hull in the FA Cup, Pafos and Napoli to seal their place in the Champions League knockouts, and league victories over Crystal Palace, Brentford, West Ham and Wolves.

He made Chelsea favourable in the betting offers again, but their form has taken a drastic turn over the last eight fixtures. A solid 4-1 win over Aston Villa and an unconvincing 4-2 extra-time victory over Wrexham in the FA Cup last 16 are Chelsea’s only wins in an otherwise barren spell. 

The rest of that run includes a draw with Burnley, another loss to Arsenal, an embarrassing Champions League exit to PSG on an 8-2 aggregate, and further Premier League defeats to Newcastle and Everton.

That 3-0 loss to the Toffees at their new ground was particularly gut-wrenching, arriving just days after the same scoreline at home to PSG. Two goals from Beto and one from Iliman Ndiaye condemned Chelsea to defeat in a game that represented a golden opportunity. Liverpool had lost earlier that day, and a win would have lifted Chelsea above them into fifth.

Chelsea are now in a far worse position than when Rosenior came in. The Blues were third when he was appointed, but they are now sixth, six points behind Aston Villa in fourth. Following four consecutive defeats, many fans have called for the club to sack Rosenior just months into his tenure, and he is the joint-favourite to be the next Premier League manager dismissed. 

Reports suggest that missing out on Champions League football next season would cost the club over £100m, and matters are made worse by swirling speculation around vice-captain Enzo Fernandez. The Argentina World Cup winner refused to commit his future to the club in a recent post-match interview and is now heavily linked with Real Madrid. If results continue to slide, Rosenior will likely be made the scapegoat.

In fairness, performances started well. Chelsea played eye-catching football in those early wins. But the players do not seem to be playing for their manager right now, and the rot has set in quickly.

The problems, though, run deeper than the head coach. Chelsea fans feel like they have lost their identity since Todd Boehly took over, with chants of Roman Abramovich heard regularly from the stands. 

When the performances are not there on the pitch, that feeling is amplified tenfold. It has made the Chelsea job incredibly difficult, not just for Rosenior, but for his predecessors too. Maresca departed after a breakdown in relations with the club hierarchy, a pattern that has become all too familiar at Stamford Bridge.

Rosenior is the sixth manager of the BlueCo era, and the fifth permanent appointment the group has made since taking over in May 2022. The saving grace for Rosenior, perhaps, is that he came from Strasbourg, a fellow BlueCo club. 

The logic behind his long-term deal is Chelsea’s desire for stability, with the club keen to avoid constant renegotiations after short spells of success. But that raises its own question: would Rosenior have been considered by any other Big Six club had they been in the market for a new manager when he was in France?

Most observers were questioning his credentials the moment he emerged as a contender. His CV reads Derby, Hull, and one impressive season at Strasbourg, where he guided the French club to a seventh-place finish and European qualification for the first time in 19 years. That is admirable work. Whether it prepares a 41-year-old for the scale of Chelsea is a different matter entirely. A job of this magnitude may simply have come too soon in his career.

The Chelsea board are understood to believe that Rosenior took over mid-season, inheriting a squad built for another manager, and they remain confident in the appointment for the long-term. That is understandable context. There is reportedly no suggestion inside the club that he is in immediate danger of losing his job. But context only goes so far with supporters watching their side slip further from the top four.

When he was appointed, Chelsea declared: “Liam has the ability to get the best out of this squad quickly and joins us with the responsibility and the backing to ensure Chelsea continues to compete at the top level in all competitions this season and in seasons to come.” That simply has not been the case.