Rosenior always in front of the pack for bossing Chelsea

The inside story of why Chelsea chose Liam Rosenior instead of a host of much more experienced coaches is quite simple. Before the dramatic breakdown between Chelsea and Enzo Maresca on New Year Day, the club were already working on replacing him. Chelsea owners, BlueCo bought Strasbourg 18 months ago and the sporting directors Paul […]

The inside story of why Chelsea chose Liam Rosenior instead of a host of much more experienced coaches is quite simple. Before the dramatic breakdown between Chelsea and Enzo Maresca on New Year Day, the club were already working on replacing him.

Chelsea owners, BlueCo bought Strasbourg 18 months ago and the sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart had already built up a close working relationship with Rosenior in his role as coach of the French side. They were instrumental in his appointment at Stamford Bridge and masterminded a five year contract.

Rosenior fits the bill at Chelsea. He believes in building a young squad and playing exciting, energetic football, skilful control in possession and a strong defence, which is much the same as Maresca. However, whereas Maresca was not really a people person and did not interact particularly well with the players or the supporters, Rosenior likes to blend in with his players, bringing them closer together for meals, outings, training; and he will be much the same, with Stamford Bridge supporters believing that their involvement creates an atmosphere, which is a powerful weapon. 

He is clearly both flattered and excited to take over a top European club with a rich heritage of winning titles and cups. Time will tell if his relative lack of top level football and young age would work for him or against him. This could be a long time career at Stamford Bridge or a very short one.

 Amorim proves a coach cannot fight owners and win

As if one sacked coach at Chelsea wasn’t enough to start the New Year, Manchester United’s Ruben Amorim seriously jeopardised his position at Old Trafford after voicing his frustration that the club would probably not be signing new players in January. He sealed his own fate in speaking out and in view of his poor 38 per cent win rate.

Speaking from the Carrington training ground, his face was cold and serious when he hinted that there was friction between him and the United hierarchy. He admitted there was “no conversation” regarding transfers and warned that the team could be in the lower half of the table again this season if the squad was not strengthened. 

That was enough to spark a heated row with sporting director, Jason Wilcox on Sunday, which resulted in Amorim being shown the door.

When it was pointed out that United had been doing well recently and just behind the Champions League places, Amorim replied that United also had eight teams behind them. Not the most encouraging of comments. The club’s senior staff and supporters were all critical of Amorim for sticking to his favoured 3-4-3 system and said he should be more flexible; which he refused to do. 

Guardiola speaks out for his friend, Maresca

Pep Guardiola came out fighting in support of his friend the sacked Chelsea coach, Enzo Maresca. The City boss was clearly unhappy with the treatment of Maresca and described him as a first class coach and someone who demands respect and support from Chelsea, not confrontations with senior staff at the club, which prompted him to describe his “worst 24 hours” in football.

Guardiola was asked if Maresca was his chosen one to take over at Manchester City when he finally left, which seemed to annoy him. The Chelsea board had already said they were unhappy about rumours floating around that he would eventually take over from Pep at Maine Road. Their close friendship was forged when the two worked together at City during the club’s 2022-23 title winning season. 

Rice shows why he should win Player of the Year

What a new year present for Arsenal supporters. Their 3-2 win over Bournemouth, with Manchester City failing to secure three points, got many commentators feeling confident that this could be Arsenal’s year.

In a perfect world for the Gunners, they win the title and Declan Rice is declared “Player of the Season.” Rice is playing phenomenal football at the moment, tackling and sending in pin point set piece balls into the penalty area. His “I must play” attitude is admirable and Mikel Arteta has rightly made his name the first on the team-sheet every week. It seems that Rice is everywhere on the pitch, digging out the ball from defence, moving through midfield and against Bournemouth last weekend, scoring two goals.

Arsenal have agonisingly missed out on the title for three consecutive seasons; and this is the vital time that in previous seasons, nerves had set in and points lost. Declan is showing no sign of nerves with his leadership and performances. Although the excellent Martin Odegaard is the captain, it is Declan that players look to with his force of personality. 

The Bee’s Thiago is on fire

You have to admire Brentford. After losing Bryan Mbuemo and Yoane Wissa, two of last season’s outstanding goal-scorers, many people forecast the Bees would have trouble finding goals.

Quite the opposite has happened and Igor Thiago has joined the ranks of super-scorers: Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane, Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland. The man is unstoppable at the moment.

Keith Andrews was suspected of being inferior to Coach Thomas Frank, but he has earned respect from most football commentators, with Thiago firing in goals almost every week.

The 24-year-old had a miserable injury hit year after moving from Belgium’s Club Bruges for £30 million, but since he scored against Nottingham Forest on the opening day of the season, he has not stopped finding the net. 

Bournemouth must invest Semenyo’s transfer fee to survive

I really like Bournemouth…the league’s smallest club with the smallest ground but a team which punches above its weight every game. What worries me is their future without Antoine Semenyo. It is said that one player does not make a team, but in Semenyo’s case, he gets very near to being that person. He will likely improve Manchester City. And the Ghana international has made no secret that it was time to move on to seek bigger glories. He has power, skill, physical presence and the determination to terrorise opponents.

Perhaps Bournemouth’s answer to that one man description is the teenager, Junior Kroupi, who has been scoring regularly for the Cherries. He is a proof that Bournemouth’s policy of giving youngsters a chance is still working.

Semenyo’s transfer fee must be reinvested to secure Premier League football and give Coach Adoni Iraola a chance to move Bournemouth up the table and out of relegation danger. 

Nuno safe for now

West Ham have told Nuno Espirito Santo that his job is under review despite an embarrassing apology from him to supporters after losing 3-0 to Wolves and a 2-1 home loss to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday evening.

The club have no clear plans to appoint a third manager for the current campaign, but things can change very quickly. Nuno joined the Hammers in September and admits he needs to do better. The club are deep into a relegation battle after winning only two of their first 21 games and are seven points behind Forest, who are in the 17th place.