‘Nothing short of a disgrace’ – Liam Rosenior must sort Chelsea’s most pressing issue immediately
Former Chelsea player Jason Cundy has urged new Blues boss Liam Rosenior to sort out the club’s ‘appalling’ disciplinary record.
The west London side have the ignominy of being the Premier League’s most ill-disciplined team this term having received a total of 62 red and yellow cards, five more than Tottenham who are the second-worst behaved club.
What made for particularly grim reading is the fact Chelsea have had five players sent off in league action, with Marc Cucurella the latest.
The Spaniard was shown a red card during the Blues’ 2-1 loss away to Fulham when he brought down Harry Wilson, who was clear through on goal.
Chelsea’s tally of five red cards after 21 league matches is the most in the last 11 years, emphasising the club’s worrying lack of discipline.
It is why Cundy believes Rosenior must rein his players in, partly because it will give him a larger squad to work with.
“If there is one thing Liam Rosenior can come in and do and make a small impact, is sort our discipline out,” Cundy said on talkSPORT’s Inside Chelsea.
“Every single week it feels that we’re missing an important player. Injuries are one thing, injuries sometimes you can’t prevent that. But one thing you can prevent are red cards. It drives me insane.
“Man City away, Liam Delap, first thing he does is, he bundles into someone and picks up a yellow card.
“I understand he wants to impress and there’s an aggressive side to his game which he needs to harness, because I want to keep that part of him.
“You can’t give yellow cards away for stupid things. Kicking balls away, speaking to the referee, those things drive me insane.
“Sort that out and you’ll make your job a lot easier to pick from a squad, you’ve got your best players available.”
The disciplinary issue among Chelsea’s players is not exclusive to this season.
In the 2024/25 campaign, Enzo Maresca’s only full season in charge, Chelsea finished behind only Ipswich Town in the disciplinary table having picked up an astonishing 100 yellow cards.
On an individual basis, Nicolas Jackson became the butt of jokes when, in his first season for the Blues following a £32million arrival from Villarreal, he picked up five yellow cards in his first six league fixtures during the 2023/24 season.
In fact, it took until April 15 in 2024 for Jackon’s goal tally to surpass the number of yellow cards he’d picked up.
Although the Senegalese forward reduced the number of yellow cards he picked up last term from 10 to eight, he picked up two red cards.
He has since moved to Bayern Munich on a loan that will become permanent at the end of the season and, somewhat impressively given his previous indiscretions, is yet to be booked in 18 appearances.
Given there’s plenty at stake for Chelsea given they are competing on four fronts, Cundy reiterated the importance of Blues players keeping a cool head so Rosenior has everyone to choose from.
“It’s an easy thing,” Cundy said.
“Our discipline record under Maresca was nothing short of a disgrace… It was appalling. Nothing ever improved, it was every week.
“Going back to last season, Jackson away at Newcastle, the Club World Cup.
“We have become a liability. Sort that out and you watch the difference in the team selection that Liam Rosenior will have to choose from.”
What's Your Reaction?
Like
0
Dislike
0
Love
0
Funny
0
Angry
0
Sad
0
Wow
0
