If Chalobah and the rest of his teammates genuinely think that “we tried our best” then they are totally delusional as well as incompetent. At what point do the players actually become accountable for their attitude and performance? And at what point will they actually apologise to us?
Duncan, County Durham
Chalobah and Rosenior with differing takes. Says it all. No one’s on the same page. They’re on different books.
Tim, Eastleigh
There is no fight left in this Chelsea team. They were absolutely diabolical all over the pitch, starting from the goalkeeper. Never seen so much bad connection between players of that calibre. Don’t they train together?
Luigi, Mitcham‘I feel numb because that doesn’t represent me’More from Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior, speaking to Sky Sports about the lack of improvement and whether his players threw the towel in:
“You have to ask the players. Whether you’re playing at this elite football club or any football club, to even be accused of throwing the towel in is unacceptable. That’s all I’m going to say. I’m hurting. I feel numb because that doesn’t represent me or the football club in any way. It has to change, starting with the FA Cup this Sunday.”
On whether Chelsea’s consistently inferior running statistics indicate a deeper problem:
“I don’t want to go into that right now. I have my own thoughts, my own feelings. I have discussed in depth about how this club… regardless of who’s the manager, what needs to happen at this football club for this club to be where it needs to be. It’s not about me, it’s about this football club. Chelsea represents fight and spirit, determination. And that was lacking in every department this evening.”
On whether there are issues with the structure of his squad:
“We’ve had injuries. It’s not an excuse, it’s a reality. That team we put out today was far better, in terms of this engagement to the game. For me, I will pick a team on Sunday that represent the club in the correct manner.”
On the lack of improvement and whether his players threw the towel in:
“You have to ask the players. Whether you’re playing at this elite football club or any football club, to even be accused of throwing the towel in is unacceptable. That’s all I’m going to say. I’m hurting. I feel numb because that doesn’t represent me or the football club in any way. It has to change, starting with the FA Cup this Sunday.”
On whether Chelsea’s consistently inferior running statistics indicate a deeper problem:
“I don’t want to go into that right now. I have my own thoughts, my own feelings. I have discussed in depth about how this club… regardless of who’s the manager, what needs to happen at this football club for this club to be where it needs to be. It’s not about me, it’s about this football club. Chelsea represents fight and spirit, determination. And that was lacking in every department this evening.”
On whether FA Cup semi-final against Leeds now defines their season:
“This was a huge game and we didn’t hit the mark anywhere near. Any game between now and the end of the season is a huge game and it needs to look like that in the way that we play.”
On what needs to happen between now and Sunday, given that his team look ‘bereft’:
“That’s your opinion. I have to sit with the staff. And we have to make sure we get it right for Sunday.”
‘The most difficult night of my career’
Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior, asked by Sky Sports whether their defeat by Brighton was their worst performance:
“By far. It was unacceptable in every aspect of the game, unacceptable in our attitude. I keep coming out and defending of the players. That’s indefensible, that performance tonight. The manner of the goals we conceded, the amount of duels that we lost, the lack of intensity in the team. Something needs to change drastically right now.
On why the performance was so bad:
“We need to look in the mirror. I need to look in the mirror. But I can’t keep coming out here and defending some of the things we’re seeing. Manchester United, genuinely the result wasn’t there, I felt we turned a corner. The general attitude, spirit, determination was lacking a part from maybe three or four of the eleven. That is nowhere near enough for this club. I can’t come out and lie. I’ll tell the truth. That was an unacceptable performance in every area.”
On the difficult early stages of the game:
“The goal’s terrible, we have an easy header, we miss the header. The passage before the goal upset me even more. I think there were four or five occasions where we can actually show some courage and quality, and take the ball down and actually play. We just kicked the ball back to Brighton. You can speak about a lack of confidence or results not going our way, that doesn’t represent anything that I ever want to see. And I won’t ever see it again.”
On whether it represents a lack of professionalism:
“The professionalism wasn’t there. It’s a really difficult night. The most difficult night not even just here, so far, at this magnificent football club, but in my career. Some of the things I witnessed today, I never want to see again.”
‘It’s nothing to do with effort’Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah, asked by Sky Sports whether the defeat by Brighton felt like a big step back:
“Yeah, it did. We gave it our all. Just not the best side.”
On why the opening 20 minutes were so difficult:
“I don’t know. We obviously had a gameplan. We tried to execute it.”
On whether it the gameplan or the execution was the issue:
“We tried our best. We worked on it throughout the week. Obviously we got beat today. We’ve just got to go again. We can’t dwell on these moments, we’ve got to look forward to the next game.”
On Chelsea supporters’ frustrations:
“We can be accountable. As players we have to be accountable for the performance. We know how much the fans have been behind us and we know they are disappointed with the results, not winning at the moment. We just have to stick together and pull through.”
On whether Brighton were more on it:
“I thought personally that the boys were running their socks off. Everyone in the changing room is tired. It’s nothing to do with effort. We gave it our all, we just got beat today.”
On statistics showing that Brighton ran more and if his team could’ve given more:
“We ran today. You can say the stats this the stats that, but I can see the boys are tired, and we ran, so I don’t know.”
On whether there is pressure on the FA Cup semi-final:
“We just have to pick ourselves up. We’ve got a semi-final to come. It’s a massive game at Wembley. Us being at another semi-final, we’ve got to use that as a positive and try to approach the game with a strong mentality, try to pick ourselves up from this defeat and stay positive.”
On whether positivity can be found in the dressing room:
“We have to stay positive. Negativity is not going to help. Us being negative, us dwelling on the past is not going to help the situation so we have to. No matter what happens in life you have to keep going forward and pick ourselves up.”
‘I feel numb I’m so angry’
Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior, speaking to Match of the Day: “Nowhere near the levels, not even tactical, tackles, duels, intensity, spirit, energy, passion all lacking and that is the reason we lost.”
Why did this happen? “I have my own ideas, I am not here to make excuses. that was unacceptable from everyone involved with me at the head of it. That needs to change.
“It is accountability. I have defended the players at times when it was the correct thing but I can’t defend that performance. It doesn’t represent this football club, it doesn’t represent anything I ask from the group and that has to change.
“I feel numb I’m so angry. I always speak on what I see and that was unacceptable. The goals we conceded were unacceptable and that is something I have to hold my hands up to.
“I will look at the team, will look at individuals and I will look at a team I can trust to do the basics of football and we should not be talking about the basics of football at this level. It is something we have to adjust very quickly.
“Tonight was not [about] tactical. This was about desire, spirit, courage and I did not see enough of that tonight.
“Nowhere near good enough and we have to improve that.”
‘Proud of the boys’
Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler, speaking to Match of the Day: “Definitely positive feeling. We played a good football game, it is not just about the result but also what we brought on the pitch – the identity, we were in every phases. It was not just parts of the game that was good but the overall performance. I am proud of the boys.
“Everyone has the intention to start well but in particular tonight it felt it was crucial to really show we wanted to win this game.
“We wanted to bring the fans behind us and build a connection and an atmosphere. You always need to bring this intensity on the pitch for the crowd.”
On moving into top six: “It is not that important for us. It is keep focusing on the performance and keep focusing on what we can do right. We have high expectations on ourselves. I always say focus on the process because you will get the results you deserve if you focus on what you can control.”
Content retrieved from: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/live/c9vl33gk010t.