Future opponent of PSG in the Champions League, Chelsea is a resilient and complicated team to beat, but one that still hasn't managed to chase away its old demons, despite its recent coaching change. Up to Luis Enrique and his players to take advantage.
Sixth in the Premier League after 28 rounds, six points behind Manchester United (3rd) and Aston Villa (4th), whom they face this Wednesday night, Chelsea lost 2-1 on Sunday on the pitch of their neighbors, Arsenal (1st). A third defeat in a few weeks for the Blues against the Gunners, who had already beaten them twice in the League Cup semifinal in January and February.
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After 13 matches on the Chelsea bench, Liam Rosenior has a fairly interesting overall record of 8 wins, 2 draws, and 3 losses, all against Arsenal. But PSG's future opponent in the Champions League is coming off a disappointing draw against Burnley (1-1) and a defeat (2-1) in the derby against Arsenal. Two Premier League matches during which Chelsea finished with ten men and conceded goals from corners.
Indiscipline and weakness on defensive set pieces are recurring ills at Chelsea, who thought they had at least solved the one concerning their players' nervousness since Rosenior's arrival on the bench. Until they saw Wesley Fofana and Pedro Neto get sent off against Burnley and Arsenal.
"It's a matter of concentration and attention that we must improve," Rosenior lamented Sunday in a press conference. "I know the club's results aren't excellent in this area since the start of the season, and now they're getting worse. We had 10 matches without any problem in this area since my arrival, but now we've just taken two reds in two matches. There's something deep that we need to understand. For me, if we understand these two main things, we can be a very, very good team and we can achieve all our goals."
Since the start of the season, Chelsea has received 9 red cards, not counting Enzo Maresca's after his celebration against Liverpool. The Blues are last in the Premier League fair play standings, which is not new since they finished second-to-last last season and already last in 2023/2024, counting the yellows and reds collected in the league. The Blues are also only two expulsions away from the record in this area in a Premier League season, with still 10 rounds to play.
How to explain such a record? One possible factor, but one minimized internally by the BBC, is that Chelsea has the youngest squad in the Premier League and lacks natural leaders. "It's costing them dearly. I don't think it's something you can fix at this stage of the season, we're in March," estimates former English defender Matthew Upson. "It's something you talk about during pre-season. It's a question of culture that you instill within the club. Players buy into it and ensure it's respected. It's about being measured and controlled at the right moment."
Leader and experienced player of this Chelsea team, defender Reece James acknowledged on Sky Sports microphone that it was a problem to absolutely fix for his team: "Every time, it's someone different, never the same player. Internally, we need to take stock and continue to improve. It's a problem. We play in the hardest league in the world: 11 against 11, it's difficult; 11 against 10, it's even harder, regardless of the opponent."
After speaking on Sunday in a press conference following the defeat against Arsenal, Liam Rosenior appeared again before the media on Monday, two days before the clash against Aston Villa in the Premier League. And the former Strasbourg coach was hammered with questions about his team's indiscipline. A subject he takes very seriously and wants to fix as quickly as possible.
How? "I think the first thing to do is to select players who show improvement in this area. I can't afford to play a season with a red card every two or three matches. It's simply impossible. I need to see improvement at this level right now. I have to adapt my team selection based on players who show these capabilities," he responded, before being a little embarrassed when asked about his vice-captain Enzo Fernandez, who has received 12 yellow cards since August 2023, most of them for dissent.
"Enzo is a great leader," Rosenior replied. "Yes, it's something we need to improve. Yes, we are a young team. It's not an excuse. We are an exceptional team. We are one of the youngest in the league, one of the youngest in Europe. What's great about a young team is that sometimes you have to go through experiences to improve. It's a very enriching experience for my group. I don't want it to be a learning experience where we fail to achieve what we want. But we must learn lessons from these setbacks we are suffering. Because if we learn from them, we have proven, even during the short time I've been here, that we can be an elite team for a long time."
But indiscipline is not the only big problem for Chelsea this season. The Blues conceded two new goals from corners against Arsenal, certainly the best team in England in this area, but it was also from a corner that they had conceded the equalizing goal a few days earlier against Burnley in added time.
If Chelsea has scored 12 goals from set pieces in the Premier League this season, plus 7 penalties, the London club has also conceded 14 goals from set pieces (plus one penalty), making it the 4th least performing team in the English league in this area. Rosenior's arrival hasn't helped Chelsea reverse the trend either, since the Londoners have taken 10 goals from set pieces in 13 matches with their new coach, even though five of them were scored by Arsenal, a team truly apart in this area of the game.
"There are some concentration and attention problems that we need to solve. We worked on set pieces all week and, as a coach, that makes the pill even harder to swallow," Rosenior acknowledged after Arsenal/Chelsea. Questioned again on the subject this Monday, the former Strasbourg coach revealed that he had taken the matter in hand in recent days: "It's no small matter, because it's a key element we need to improve. Every coach has a different idea of how to attack and defend set pieces. I will always be honest. I took on more responsibility last week because I know it's something that needs improvement. Bernardo [Cueva] has proven to be an excellent set-piece coach in terms of offensive output. He's among the best in the league. It's not just about coaching. It's also about mentality. It's about concentration and attention. By taking control of this aspect, the manager hopes that, from a mental point of view, it will have added value in how we work."
For PSG, which has scored 10 goals from set pieces (excluding penalties) this season in Ligue 1, this Chelsea weakness will be something to exploit at the Parc des Princes, as it was at Stamford Bridge. The animated end of the match between the two teams last July during the Club World Cup final could also offer us two rather electric encounters, which could potentially play in favor of the Parisians, who top the fair play standings in Ligue 1 and seem more experienced than their opponents in this area.
In the Champions League, PSG has already taken two reds this season (Zabarnyi against Leverkusen and Hernandez against Tottenham), while only one player has been sent off on Chelsea's side on the European stage (Joao Pedro for two yellows against Benfica). The one who best masters his nerves and proves effective on defensive and offensive set pieces will, in any case, probably have great chances of seeing the next round.
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