Liam Rosenior said Chelsea’s thrilling fightback from two goals down to defeat West Ham 3–2 on Saturday proved his team possess something “special”.
Chelsea found themselves trailing at half-time after goals from Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville put West Ham firmly in control at Stamford Bridge.
Despite being jeered off the pitch by frustrated supporters at the interval, Chelsea responded with a strong second-half performance.
Joao Pedro pulled one back before Marc Cucurella headed home the equaliser.
Chelsea then completed the turnaround in stoppage time as captain Enzo Fernandez struck the winner, marking the first time in the Premier League era that the club have come from two goals down at half-time to win.
“My biggest takeaway is that there’s a spirit, a fight and a resilience in this group that I really, really like,” Rosenior said.
“We don’t have many training sessions, but we spoke about responding in the right way to setbacks. That was clear in the second half, and it wasn’t there in the first.
“We’ve played so many games in a short period. I was worried about energy levels, not in terms of effort, but our decision-making was poor in the first half. When to press, when to keep the ball, we were just off it.
“West Ham were clearly the better team. But the reaction after the break tells me we’ve got something really special here if I can use the squad properly.”
The victory lifted Chelsea to fourth place in the Premier League and saw Rosenior become only the fourth English manager to win his first three Premier League matches, following Bobby Gould, Sam Allardyce and Craig Shakespeare.
Rosenior has now guided Chelsea to six wins in seven games across all competitions since taking over from Enzo Maresca after leaving Strasbourg.
The standout moment of his early tenure had come on Wednesday when Chelsea recovered from a 2–1 deficit to beat Napoli 3–2 in Italy and secure a place in the Champions League round of 16.
However, this comeback arguably carried even greater weight given the poor first-half display and the way Rosenior changed the course of the game.
His decision to make three substitutions at half-time proved crucial as Chelsea surged back into the contest.
“Individually and collectively, our first-half performance was nowhere near the level it should have been,” Rosenior said.
“The players who came off will be talked about, but it wasn’t on them. It was a collective issue.
“They know that with me, early changes can happen. That doesn’t mean they’re out of my plans.
“It was a very lethargic first half, but the second half was exactly what I wanted to see.”
Leave a Reply