Ex-Chelsea star reveals who is to blame for historic losing run after Brighton loss

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Evening Standard

·21. April 2026

Ex-Chelsea star reveals who is to blame for historic losing run after Brighton loss

Liam Rosenior facing more criticism than ever after Brighton defeat, but is he the sole culprit of the Blues’ miserable form?

Gary Cahill said Chelsea’s players must take accountability for the club’s miserable run after defeat by Brighton on Tuesday night left them without a win or a goal in five Premier League matches - a feat they have repeated for the first time since 1912.

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A turgid 3-0 defeat on the south coast, in which Chelsea produced their worst performance of Liam Rosenior’s brief tenure, saw the Blues slip to seventh in the Premier League table, with some six clubs now poised to leapfrog them.

The result leaves Rosenior under more scrutiny than ever, but after Chelsea were outrun by their opponents for the 34th time this season in as many matches, Cahill pointed the finger at the players, charging them with rolling over on a crucial night.

He told Sky Sports: “I said before it was a huge game and one they needed to win and they just got totally outplayed, there are no positives you can take from that game.

“I feel somewhat for Liam, I feel the players let him down, but there are some unpleasant stats out there about Chelsea and they are some tough times ahead.

“And Sunday's FA Cup semi-final is now pivotal for this club, but they look fragile, low on confidence, fragile and in all honesty, it was a difficult watch to be fair.

“The last 20 minutes, they almost accepted their fate, second to every ball and they were just miles off it tonight.

“To be seen to be giving a lack of effort, there is no excuse for that. The last 20 minutes especially, I was watching that gave thinking they’ve given up. They’ve accepted that they’ve lost the game and that is the worst thing.”

Another ex-Chelsea star Steve Sidwell joined Cahill on punditry duties, and was similarly unimpressed with Chelsea’s workrate, saying the club risked alienating its supporters if performances did not soon improve.

“Chelsea fans will not accept that performance at all. When your backs are up against the wall, you only get out of that by putting a shift in, hard working and doing the hard yards.

“You can talk analysis, tactics, data until you are blue in the face, but you need to go out there and put the work in and that is the only way for this Chelsea team to get out of this.

“Yes they have had injuries and some big players missing tonight, but you have to take that on the chin and the people who have come into the fold have to step up and not one of those Chelsea players have done that this evening.”