Liam Rosenior says fruition of his tactics at Chelsea could come in ‘the long term’

Liam Rosenior believes that the fruition of his tactics could take some time to fully implement, which will be worrying for Blues fans to hear.

You are setting a precedent when you start saying things like this. Chelsea fans do not like being told to stay patient anymore, because this is all they have been hearing under the new ownership for the past 3/4 years almost now.

DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL CHELSEA NEWS APP FOR ALL THE LATEST UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON THE APP STORE

It’s a worrying sign when a manager is basically telling you that perhaps we should not be expecting too much this season, and we might have to wait until next season to truly see their tactics come in to play. It’s sort of backtracking too, because when Rosenior came in he told fans that he was going to get his team playing quick, entertaining, and attacking football that will get them off their seats. We are yet to really see that, only perhaps in moments.

It will take time, apparently…

Liam Rosenior takes his press conference. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)

Rosenior confessed that he has been unable to immediately implement an energetic style, and explained why.

Rosenior said he has been tailoring his tactics because of a fear of fatigue and the injuries which would follow if he asked them to play precisely how he would like.

That is apparently why Arsenal have covered the greatest distance out of all the clubs in the Premier League this season – 1,988 miles in total – while Chelsea have covered the least – 1,773 miles. It was after Daily Mail Sport alerted the Blues boss to that statistic that he said it will come in time: ‘It’s really difficult. I know where I want this team to get to, in every aspect.

‘You always want to be at the top of every category. Arsenal are a very physical, very high pressing, high energy team. I want us to be high pressing and high energy as well.

‘That is something that you can’t solve in a short space of time. That comes over a period of months and hopefully years.’

Can’t come in and change it all

Rosenior continued: ‘It’s OK in your mind to say, “I want to play this way”. But you have to tailor that to the players, and their experiences, and where they are at this stage of the season.

‘You can’t come in and completely change their training schedule and what they are used to, because they will get injured. This is a longer term thing for me to address.

‘At the moment, my focus, and the way we work, is game by game, what’s best for these players to win. That’s how it’s going to be for the rest of the season.’

Check out the latest edition of Simon Phillips’ SPTC podcast here: