“Earn their place” – Rosenior makes huge claim history suggests it will be hard to back up | OneFootball

Liam Rosenior was asked in his press conference today about what he made of Robert Sanchez’s performance against Arsenal yesterday. The keeper made a couple of mistakes, and the new manager was asked if the Spaniard was still his first choice goalkeeper.

Rosenior challenges players to impress him in training if they want to play

Chelsea and Arsenal players compete for the ball. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Rosenior took this chance to make a point to his wider squad – he claimed each of them have to compete for their spot every week.

“It’s the same for every position. I’m here to assess every position. I don’t have No.1s or No.2s,” Rosenior said.

“That’s not how I work. If you look at me at every club, there has to be competition. I work on performance, not just in the goalkeeping department, but in every position on the pitch. You have to earn your spot in this team. I have a very good squad.

“So for me, that’s the message to all of the players. I don’t have guaranteed No.1s or guaranteed No.9s. They have to earn their place in the team.”

All managers like to say this, but at big clubs like Chelsea, especially with their current model, sadly there is so much politics going into every decision that it’s never quite as simple as picking the player who trains best. There’s a medical department, sporting directors, agents, parents and all manner of others putting pressure on every call.

In other news…

Rosenior also spoke about some of the player’s who missed last night’s defeat against Arsenal. It sounds like a couple of them could be back, but the others are going to struggle.

Fabrizio Romano went live this afternoon to speak about some of Chelsea’s planned activity for January, with an update on Josh Acheampong’s future bound to please Blues fans.