Rosenior reveals honest conversation with Cucurella following recent interview | OneFootball

Liam Rosenior revealed he had a long conversation with Marc Cucurella following comments he made in a recent interview.

In an interview with the Athletic, Cucurella says he would not have made the decision to part ways with former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca midway through the season and says his side’s Champions League defeat to PSG was “discouraging” for the club’s project.

“Fantastic conversation with Marc yesterday,” Rosenior said when asked about the comments. “Half an hour in my office.

“The disappointing thing for me, what we’re trying to create here in my time, I’ve only been here for three months. I’m enjoying it, even in the difficult moments. I want players, I’ve said to them from day one, if they’ve got any issue with how we do things, to come and speak to me and speak to sporting directors.

“My disappointment in Marc’s interview is where it went to. I think he should have spoken to us first about the things that he’s feeling. I want players to feel like they can speak openly and honestly for the benefit of the football club.

“Those conversations we’ve had with Reece James, that’s why Reece has signed a new contract, because he believes in where we’re going. As a football club, we know we need to improve, myself included. We actually know what we’re going to do in the summer to achieve those objectives.”

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Cucurella’s team-mate Enzo Fernandez has been dropped for two games following comments he also made in recent interviews.

But Rosenior insists Cucurella is fully committed to the club and unlike Fernandez, will not be punished.

“Everybody knows Marc Cucurella, knows his character,” he continued. “He’s a great character, he’s passionate, he wants to do well. I think for him, he did a long interview where he spoke with passion, he spoke his mind.

“Yesterday, when I was in the office with him for half an hour, I was to remind him, you can come and speak to me, you can be honest with me and you can be honest with the club about what you want. That takes time.

“I’ve been here for two and a half months, we’ve played 20 games. So to build those relationships and those connections takes time. But Marc is fully committed, he wants to be here. He’s made that very, very clear to me. And he actually believes in where we’re moving forward.”

Rosenior says both of his players’ comments came from a place of frustration, but a desire to do well.

“It’s not ideal. I think a lot of this stems from we had a really, really difficult 10 days,” he said. “Probably the most difficult 10 days of my career as a player or a coach.

“I’ll go back to the first game against PSG, the belief in the group and what we were doing, the performance was top and it all fell apart in 15 minutes and there was a huge emotional dump from that game, which I think fell through to the next three games that we played.

“Why was there such a big emotional dump? Because the players were so motivated and had so much belief that we could do something really special in the Champions League this year.

“I feel like not just the comments from Enzo, but Cucu’s interview as well stems from that. It actually stems from a good place where they want to do well. They want the club to succeed.

“But in those moments, I think we need more emotional stability as a group of players, from me as the head coach, as a football club, so that we don’t respond in the way we have done to the setbacks we’ve had.”

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