Chelsea parted ways with Enzo Maresca on New Year’s Day and swiftly brought in Liam Rosenior. The Blues manager said he wants to have a connection with players off the pitch rather than serve only as a coach.
Liam Roseniro Seeks To Strengthen Player Connections
Rosenior recalled his experience as a player, saying that they used to judge managers as soon as he joined the club. He wants to avoid a situation in which the squad is not in favor of him being at the club or thinks the manager has favorites because they have worked together previously at another club.
The Englishman’s tactic is to maintain his relationship with the players even off the pitch, saying it is important to know about life away from the game because it plays a key role in a player’s mindset.
He believes his team would do better if everyone is happy, and that better performances would lead to wins. However, he said some players admitted they have never spoken to a manager so often and joked that they are already tired of him. He told Sky Sports:
“A few of them have joked that they’ve never spoken to a manager so much in a short space of time. They are probably sick of me already. That’s my way of managing, that won’t change but it doesn’t mean that I’m their best friend.”
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The topic of being the best friend came up again while talking about Cole Palmer, whom he insists is not looking to leave the club this summer. He said the importance of being close with the players is understanding their limits and knowing when to push them harder, and added:
“Not just how they perform on the pitch, not just how they’ve trained or how they’ve played, that they’re happy in their lives. It’s the best job in the world. I’m too old to play football. I didn’t enjoy it enough and I actually found when I enjoyed playing football was when I was at my best.
“So it’s not about being their best friend or arm around the shoulder it’s about being able to get to know someone to a point where you can push them further than what they are probably used to. So for Cole, for all the players, it’s the same.”
Chelsea has won three of their four matches under Rosenior, with the only loss coming to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semifinal first leg.
