New Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior looks to hit the ground running

LONDON – Liam Rosenior knows time is not on his side as he begins transforming Chelsea from English Premier League underachievers to title contenders, and the 41-year-old has made clear to his squad that he intends to hit the ground running.

Rosenior, who replaced Italian Enzo Maresca, joined Chelsea on Jan 6 from Strasbourg and will take charge of his first game on Jan 10 when the London club travel to Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup third round.

The Englishman was in the stands on Jan 7 as Chelsea were beaten 2-1 by Fulham, a defeat which left them eighth with one win from their last nine league games.

“For this opportunity to come up at this stage of my career is great, but my biggest focus is not about being Chelsea manager, it’s about being a winning Chelsea manager,” Rosenior told Sky Sports ahead of the game at Craven Cottage.

“That is the message I gave the players yesterday when I was fortunate enough to meet them for the first time. We need to hit the ground running for the rest of the season.”

Chelsea have a hectic run of fixtures in January and early February with 10 games in 31 days.

Asked if it would be difficult to impose his style with matches coming thick and fast, Rosenior said: “No, I think Enzo, the previous manager, has done a really, really good job with the team tactically. My game is not dissimilar.

“There are different characteristics in terms of the way that I play that I want to put my stamp on. People talk about tactics and systems and philosophies, (but) I want to see good energy in a team. I want to see a team that’s hard to beat.

“I want to see a team that runs for each other and fights. And they’re the things that I can get a lot of work done with the lads.”

Despite wanting fight, fixing Chelsea’s terrible discipline record will likely be near the top of his to-do list.

Television cameras cut to Rosenior sitting high in the stands, looking stony-faced as defender Marc Cucurella trudged off the pitch following a red card for a foul on Harry Wilson, with only a quarter of the game played.

The dismissal took Chelsea’s total number of red cards in the league so far this season to five, more than double any other team. It is a big factor in their struggle to live up to the hype following their Club World Cup victory in the summer.

Fulham made their numerical advantage count, with Raul Jimenez scoring with a bullet header in the 55th minute and Wilson settling the match in the 81st after Liam Delap had raised Chelsea’s hopes with his first league goal for the Blues.

Chelsea interim coach Calum McFarlane – who stepped up from running the club’s Under-21 side following the departure of Maresca on Jan 1 and oversaw a 1-1 draw at Manchester City on Jan 4 – said the sending-off was the game’s turning point.

“Any red card affects the game massively,” McFarlane said. “Really disappointed because we were starting to get into our rhythm, so it came at a really bad time for us.”

He also said he was concerned by the three yellow cards given to Chelsea players for protesting about Cucurella’s sending-off. “Three yellow cards after is something we need to look at,” said McFarlane, who himself was booked later in the game for arguing with the referee. REUTERS