Rosenior already in denial about his team’s biggest problem which has carried over from Maresca | OneFootball

It’s a problem for managers of many top clubs, and it’s something which particularly plagued Enzo Maresca at times.

When you manage a top team, it’s a lot easier to coach them in games against other big teams, where there will be space to exploit on the counter attack. Coaching your side to open up a low block is very difficult, and Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea are a long way from getting there, as we saw last night.

It took them almost 80 minutes to break down Pafos, and even then it was from a set piece. After the game, Rosenior was asked whether he was relived to see his team it down.

Rosenior relieved to see his team break down tough opposition

Moises Caicedo celebrates scoring for Chelsea. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

“Yeah, you have to keep banging on the door. Obviously, you want to get the breakthrough earlier to open up the game. That was a harsh decision on Enzo [Fernandez]. Maybe puts his hands on him [for the disallowed goal].

“I think in the Premier League, it’s probably a goal. But the players, sometimes you just have to keep going. You have to keep knocking on the door, but you also have to keep the back door shut. There were things I was pleased with.

“There were things that we need to improve on. But overall, the body language of the group, they kept going. They were making block after block and save after save. I was delighted for Moi [Caicedo] to get the goal and get the result we deserved.”

He’s making it sound a lot better than it was. There was one very notable block and one very notable save which would have changed things, but given the amount of possession his side had, we expected mre.

In other news…

Rosenior also took questions about Liam Delap – he denied the striker was lacking confidence after another display without a goal. We still expect the Englishman to start against Crystal Palace this weekend – and he will hope there’s more space to exploit in that game.

Moises Caicedo was the hero once again for Chelsea, scoring a crucial header to win the Blues the game and put them back into the Champions League top 8.