Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior ‘blew pundit’s mind’ with tactics and outlined Champions League dream in EFL interview

Liam Rosenior was standing alongside Wayne Rooney as his assistant manager at Derby County just four years ago.

Fast forward to the present day and he is now head coach at Chelsea, one of the biggest and most unpredictable jobs in world football.

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Rosenior has arrived from their sister club, RC Strasbourg, as successor to Enzo Maresca, who made a shock exit on New Year’s Day.

It’s an appointment that is, once again, a stark contrast of those made during the Roman Abramovich era of proven winners.

Under the BlueCo ownership, Graham Potter and Maresca have been handed five-year deals but never reached the halfway point.

Their respective previous clubs Brighton and Leicester City are well-established, but don’t come close to the worldwide status of Chelsea.

Maresca in particular was in just his third senior job at the Blues, and now it’s Rosenior who has moved to west London relatively inexperienced.

An interim spell at Derby preceded a move to Hull City, and then it was Strasbourg in 2024 that brought in the former Premier League full-back to France.

Although his CV lacks success at a club with a similar stature to Chelsea, his new club can expect a man with plenty of ambition.

As revealed to talkSPORT by ex-Hull chief Tan Kesler, Rosenior set his sights on the elite early on, an ambition that has now materialised.

“He’s so demanding but at the same time, he planned all this,” he said on Weekend Sports Breakfast.

“When we were interviewing him, I still remember, it’s a beautiful moment, when he applied for the job. We were looking for a lot of different candidates, he had a very rough spell from Derby County.

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“But when I looked at his methodology and football philosophy, I really saw something special there and then wanted to meet with him.

“When we met, he said he wanted to be a coach of a Champions League club at one point. And maybe for many executives at the time, being in the Championship and trying to find a way to promote [to the Premier League], it could be too ambitious.

“But for me, it was very significant for a coach to be determined from that moment in his career.

“And since then, I’ve been privileged to follow his development, and he’s getting there, and I think he deserves it.

“For me, as a coach, he’s a student of the game, and he has the personality to do that.

“His communication is exceptional with the players so, what I’ve seen is not surprising for me, from someone who actually gave him a chance to showcase his ability and talent in the past.”

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Bent: Rosenior blew me away

After retiring from his playing career, Rosenior began working as a pundit on Sky Sports alongside his U23 assistant role at Brighton.

talkSPORT host Darren Bent, who played for Tottenham, England and Aston Villa, made appearances alongside him on the sofa, and was amazed by his football brain.

“I spent a lot of time with him when we were doing Sky games about four or five years ago, maybe before that,” he told Drive on talkSPORT.

“In terms of analysing… a little bit like Keith Andrews at Brentford, these guys, when I’d sit down and have a conversation with them talking about the way certain teams play and the way they talk about tactics. I promise you, it’d blow your mind.”

Bent added: “Listening to these guys talk about tactics and shape, I was like, ‘Wow’, I was blown away by Liam.”

He then added that if Chelsea offer you a job it’s hard to turn down.

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Big names, big influences

Strasbourg travelled to Scotland to face Aberdeen in the Conference League league phase in December.

Aside from the 1-0 win, the visit to Pittodrie Stadium was particularly special for Rosenior given its history.

Sir Alex Ferguson won three Scottish league titles and four Scottish Cups, as well as two European trophies, as Aberdeen manager.

He then won 13 Premier League titles, two Champions Leagues and multiple other honours at Manchester United in almost 27 years.

For Rosenior, Ferguson is the pinnacle in management and before the win over Aberdeen, he said: “This is a big thing for me.

“My hero in life, Sir Alex Ferguson, if you understand the history of what he achieved here.

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“I was a Manchester United fan from birth so I walk up the stairs and I see all of the pictures at this stadium, it gives me goosebumps to be a manager here myself.

“Aberdeen is a huge club historically and it is an absolute privilege to be able to manage here tomorrow night.”

Rosenior has also taken notes from fellow managerial icon, and one of his predecessors at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho.

The Portuguese is regarded as the greatest manager in the club’s history having won eight trophies, including three Premier Leagues.

Writing in his column for The Guardian in 2018, he said: “As an aspiring coach I have a firm handle on how I want my team to play and I admire and wonder at the way the likes of [Pep] Guardiola, [Jurgen] Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino have gone about their work.

“At the same time, I look at Mourinho and what he has won in his career by adopting a less evangelical approach to the game we all love. He has still managed to achieve great success regardless.

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“Howard Wilkinson has been one of our tutors on the pro licence course and he is adamant that you have to survive your first 70 games as a manager if you are to have any chance of succeeding long term.

“Should I get the opportunity to coach one game, never mind 70, then I would be looking to combine the beautiful with the practical.”

Rosenior ready for Chelsea challenge?

Three-and-a-half years after his touchline debut at Derby, Rosenior has surpassed Wilkinson’s 70-match milestone.

In fact, he’s more than doubled it by taking charge of 153 matches in all competitions across his three spells, winning 66 of them.

Most of his success came at Strasbourg, but it will surely soon become apparent that managing Chelsea is a different kettle of fish.

Rosenior joins a project that has become known for signing some of the best young, up and coming talent in world football.

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Cole Palmer and Moises Caicedo are two notable achievements from their transfer strategy and have plenty of time to get even better.

However, their recruitment has so far lacked experienced players, and a growing turnover of talent has left the squad unstable.

Couple this with the exits of four permanent managers since BlueCo took over in 2022, and it’s hard to ignore the lingering uncertainty.

Conference League and Club World Cup success in the summer was seen as a potential indicator of progress at Stamford Bridge.

Under the past ownership, it was a case of ‘when’ Chelsea would win a major trophy – now it’s a question of ‘if’.

Rosenior has the opportunity to win silverware in his debut season though, with the Blues still in three cup competitions.

An FA Cup clash at Charlton Athletic is followed by their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Arsenal.

Champions League football arrives soon after, with Rosenior making his competition debut at home to Pafos in the league phase.

Fan tension was apparent in Maresca’s final game in charge as his decision to substitute Cole Palmer against Bournemouth was booed.

Rosenior is now tasked with improving the atmosphere at Chelsea, especially when fans plan to protest to sporting structure.

On the face off it, he looks set to be another huge gamble from the Blues hierarchy, who have done little to impress since arriving.

Will Rosenior be given the time, resources and assistance to win, or will Chelsea find themselves in a similar position in the near future?