Chelsea fans booed off their own side on Saturday at half-time and perhaps, rightly so. That is what Liam Rosenior said after the game, claiming he would have joined in with the boos if he was a fan.
Obviously, Chelsea came from two goals down at the break to win 3-2 and all is forgotten. If anything, the win was far more impressive given Chelsea had overcome such criticism and a two-goal deficit to win.
Indeed, it was Chelsea’s first Premier League comeback from two or more goals down at half-time in the club’s 57th attempt. Joao Pedro, Marc Cucurella and Enzo Fernandez all scored goals for Rosenior’s men.
New record broken by Rosenior and Chelsea! 🎯
Chelsea have never managed it before…
Some blame has been parked at Rosenior’s door for the first half, given Rosenior made seven changes from the 3-2 win over Napoli. One of those changes was the decision to start winger Alejandro Garnacho.
Gary Neville says what he noticed about Alejandro Garnacho
Come the restart after half-time, Rosenior had made four changes. One after 26 minutes due to Jamie Gittens picking up an injury, and three more at the break. One that came off was Argentine ace Garnacho.
West Ham were devastating on their right flank, Chelsea’s left, in the first half. At half-time, Rosenior took Garnacho, left-back Jorrel Hato, and left-sided centre-back Benoit Badiashile off, admitting his mistake.
On his Sky Sports podcast, Gary Neville thinks Garnacho’s confidence is low: “West Ham dominated in the first half. The left side of Chelsea was obliterated. Garnacho is a player who divides opinion at times.
“A lot of people ask the question – is he top class or, where is he in the pecking order? What was difficult to watch, as a young player that has gone to Chelsea, he looked shot to pieces in terms of his confidence.
“I’m not just talking about Wan-Bissaka getting ahead of him, but his first touch was backwards, and he kept giving it away. An awkward, horrible experience for Garnacho, Hato, and Badiashile on the left.”
Garnacho has been up and down since Rosenior took charge
Garnacho started Rosenior’s first game, a 5-1 win over Charlton. But his body language was poor, getting frustrated when he didn’t get the ball and when he did, anything he attempted was blocked or stopped.
Garnacho is having a horrible time of things…
Is this Liam Rosenior’s biggest mistake so far today?
A total of 0 defensive contributions will have annoyed Rosenior. But in stark contrast, he worked hard and got himself a brace in the next game against Arsenal. Against Pafos, Garnacho showed he was listening.
Most tackles and 12 defensive contributions, much better. But on Saturday, he was 10 yards behind Aaron Wan-Bissaka at any given opportunity and it is now back to the drawing board for the summer signing.
Receive a digest of our best Chelsea content each week direct to your mailbox
