The gap between Man City and Arsenal is closing. But the gap between Chelsea and the top of the Premier League felt vast on Sunday, as they were outclassed in the second half at Stamford Bridge.
Blues boss Liam Rosenior will come under pressure after this 3-0 loss to title-chasing City, with his side’s prospects of Champions League qualification badly hit.
They are now four points off fifth-placed Liverpool and have lost their last three in the league without scoring.
But Rosenior made it clear what the big problem is for his side: the mentality when Chelsea suffer a setback.
“It’s happened too many times,” he said in his post-match press conference, following City’s quickfire goals soon after half-time which took the game away from his team.
Rosenior was also no doubt thinking about how his side blew a two-goal lead against relegation battlers Leeds here in February, or last month’s late collapse at Paris St-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
“Man City started the second half better than us – that can happen against a good team – but what you can’t do is concede two goals in the manner that we did so quickly, one after the other,” said Rosenior.
“It comes down to resilience in difficult moments and seeing those moments through and making sure you’re still in the game.”
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Gary Neville questions where the leadership comes from at Chelsea and calls for more to be done to help a young coach like Liam Rosenior with the youthful squad he has that lacks experience and discipline.
In contrast, Pep Guardiola said about his own City players: “The success of these players is the hierarchy, the sports directors, the club, that bring me, or give me at my disposal an amazing mentality, competitive players. So that is the key of the success.”
Those are the kind of players Rosenior wants to bring to Chelsea. “We’ve had, even over the last week, lots of detailed conversations about what we need to look like moving forward from the summer window,” he said.
But Rosenior knows his team need to start delivering immediately if they are to realise their goals in the Premier League and with a FA Cup semi-final against Leeds to come.
“I have to change it now,” said Rosenior. “I’m not a manager that hides behind ‘maybe we need to do something with other players in the transfer market’. I need to change it now.
“That’s why I’m here. So it’s something that we have to address because it’s happened too many times where we’ve been in games against top teams. First half, I felt we actually were very, very good today. Same against PSG for 75 minutes.
“But then we concede and then the cards start to fold.”
‘I understand this club – I need to win now’, says Rosenior
There were boos at full-time from the Chelsea supporters and Rosenior said he was not blind to the demands at Stamford Bridge. Or the fact the club have a reputation for firing managers when performances and results drop off.
“I need to win in this moment. This is a huge football club. When I first came, I never asked for a lot of time because I understand this club. I understand the traditions and the history of this club.
“I would like to have that time,” he said.
“I’m confident that in that time, you can create something very, very special within the time that it takes, which even someone as experienced as Pep [Guardiola] or Jurgen Klopp when he won the titles he did at Liverpool, they had a year to sort things out. I’ve come in January.
“It’s not an excuse. It’s a reality.
“I need to win in the now. And that’s what I’ll be focused on.”
