After Brighton and Hove Albion pulverised Chelsea 3-0 at the Amex Stadium, the travelling Blues supporters made their feelings known in brutal fashion
Travelling Chelsea supporters directed X-rated chants at manager Liam Rosenior as the Blues slumped to yet another dismal defeat. Brighton & Hove Albion secured a fourth successive victory over the west Londoners, cruising to a comfortable 3-0 home win.
For Rosenior, it represented a fifth consecutive Premier League defeat and a seventh in eight matches across all competitions. The nightmare began almost immediately, as Ferdi Kadioglu capitalised on yet more woeful set-piece defending from the visitors to find the net after just three minutes.
Rosenior abandoned the back-three system he had deployed from the off, and Chelsea initially appeared to have improved after the interval, only for Jack Hinshelwood to extinguish any renewed optimism by doubling the lead on 56 minutes. Deep into injury time, Danny Welbeck compounded the Blues’ misery with a third.
FOLLOW OUR CHELSEA FB PAGE! Latest Blues news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
Between Brighton’s second and third goals, chants of ‘F*** off Rosenior’ rang out from the away end. The home faithful then responded with their own chorus of ‘Liam Rosenior, he’s one of our own’ in a show of solidarity for their former player.
The reaction from his old supporters will have done precious little to alleviate the mounting pressure on the Chelsea manager. A victory for the west Londoners would have significantly bolstered their hopes of securing a Champions League finish.
Should results continue to go against them, Chelsea could find themselves dropping as low as 11th. The defeat left the Blues in seventh position on 48 points, now just two points adrift of 11th-placed Sunderland and three behind Fulham, all of whom hold a game-in-hand over Chelsea.
Following the final whistle, Rosenior made his way over to the travelling supporters and placed his hand on his chest in an apologetic gesture towards the Chelsea faithful. When pressed on whether this was his side’s worst performance during their recent difficult run, Rosenior said: “By far.
“That was unacceptable in every aspect of the game, unacceptable in the attitude. I keep coming out to defend the players but that was indefensible tonight.
“Something needs to change drastically right now. That performance tonight, the manner of the goals we conceded, the amount of duels that we lost, the lack of intensity in the team, something needs to change drastically.
“We need to look in the mirror. I need to look in the mirror. But I can’t keep coming out here and defending some of the things that we’re seeing.”
He further conceded it represented a significant backward step following a relatively encouraging showing in the 1-0 home defeat to Manchester United at the weekend. Rosenior said: “Manchester United, genuinely result wasn’t there but I felt we turned a corner.
“But the general attitude, spirit was lacking – determination from three or four of the starting eleven. That’s nowhere near enough for this club. I can’t come out and lie. I tell the truth. That was an unacceptable performance at every level.”
Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV package
Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.
Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.
