Rosenior’s press conferences going from enjoyable to embarrassing as manager struggles to define his authority | OneFootball

This is a syndicated version of this story, originally featured on the BBC Sport website.

Liam Rosenior’s demeanour has been under the microscope since before he was announced as Chelsea manager. From the moment it became clear that he was the front-runner for the job, clips and quotes were dug up from his past to make him look silly.

It all felt a little unfair – there’s no doubt Rosenior is a quirky guy who is different to the gruff “football men” who dominate the game. But that didn’t have to be a bad thing. While results were good, his personality stopped being an issue.

Quirky Rosenior bringing attention for the wrong reasons

However, now things are going in the wrong direction, the manager’s style of communication is becoming more than just a minor distraction. As issues have piled up on him – from injuries, to key players saying they want to leave, to the pre-match huddle nonsense, to team news leaks, to this week’s questions about a comically futile tactical note handed to his players 86 minutes into a thrashing – Rosenior looks increasingly incapable of digging himself out of the situations he talks his way into.

It’s always refreshing to hear a manager speak honestly and openly, but when things are going badly, a soft touch doesn’t give fans the sense that anything is actually going to change. If Rosenior isn’t going to get tough, he needs to get results. His team are losing thanks to silly mistakes and ill-discipline, then showing no signs of learning from it.

Meanwhile his vice-captain is openly considering leaving and his best centre-back can’t be bothered to sprint back to stop a goal. Whatever he’s saying behind the scenes, in public he needs to show supporters that that’s not acceptable.

The fear was always that an inexperienced manager would struggle to manage this dressing room. A manager who is inexperienced and failing so badly in communicating with fans and players doesn’t have a chance.