Trevoh Chalobah has been speaking to the media following Chelsea’s crucial 1-0 victory over Leeds United to progress into next month’s FA Cup final against Manchester City
Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah has called on his teammates to “block out” all of the noise around the club at the moment and explained why it was “difficult” to see former head coach Liam Rosenior depart Stamford Bridge after less than four months in the dugout.
Rosenior was dismissed last week following seven defeats in an eight-game period as Blues head coach, with his 107-day tenure reaching its conclusion last Tuesday in the 3-0 defeat away at Brighton. Calum McFarlane took interim charge of the team following Rosenior’s departure and ended a barren run of form with a 1-0 win over Leeds United in the FA Cup semi-final on Sunday afternoon.
The narrow victory at Wembley Stadium, secured by a 23rd-minute Enzo Fernandez header, means Chelsea will return to the same venue next month to take on Manchester City in the final. That is one of five matches the Blues have remaining this season as they try and salvage something from the underwhelming campaign, with Champions League qualification an almighty task now.
FOLLOW OUR CHELSEA FB PAGE! Latest Blues news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
Chalobah, who helped Chelsea keep a rare clean sheet against Leeds, has opened up on how the players have “reset” in recent days to try and transform their fortunes. “For us, it was just about resetting, getting our standards back,” Chalobah said to reporters at Wembley. “It’s still the same players that we had at the start of the season when we were flying.
“So it’s not like we lose our abilities overnight. It’s just obviously resetting and getting that feeling back and that mentality back.”
The win against Leeds on Sunday must have felt a relief to those Chelsea players, who had faced days of uncertainty behind the scenes following Rosenior’s departure. Chalobah admitted seeing the 41-year-old leave his post was “difficult” for the squad to take but his focus is on finishing the season in the best way possible as the Blues look to win the FA Cup for the ninth time.
“It’s difficult,” explained Chalobah. “No matter what club you’re in, if this situation’s happened, obviously a manager goes and we have to reset again.
“For us, it is just focusing on what we have. It’s another five finals. We have four in the Premier League and obviously our final here. But for us, it’s five finals. We have to go in there with the quality.”
Asked specifically about Rosenior’s departure, the defender added: “No matter what manager goes, it’s difficult. You spend time with them, you work with them daily, every day. You have to adapt, you’ve got to reset again.
“For us, we can use that as an excuse but, at the end of the day, we’ve got to look at ourselves as players. You take responsibility. Now until the end of the season, we have nothing else, no other excuse – we just have to go out there and try to win our games.”
In Rosenior’s final press conference as head coach, he described Chelsea’s performance at the Amex Stadium as “unacceptable” and called on the players to take some of the responsibility. After weeks of taking the blame, Rosenior turned on his squad. There has been major criticism of the players from other circles as well, something Chalobah accepted.
“The criticism is part of it,” said Chalobah. “When you don’t win games, of course you’re going to get criticism. For us, we just have to block out all the noise and trust in ourselves, speak between ourselves with communication and trusting our abilities.
“That’s what we need to do from now until the end of the season. As I said, whether you do bad or you do good, there’s always going to be people that talk. It’s important that we just focus on what we have.”
