Rosenior defends under fire attacker with one goal – but won’t be starting him on Saturday | OneFootball

Liam Delap has been under fire for his goalscoring record, and Liam Rosenior has made a point of defending him, as he did today.

It’s been national defend Liam Delap week since his funny game against Hull on Friday. The striker messed up an easy chance to score, but then contributed three assists, rather summing up his first season at Chelsea.

His manager Liam Rosenior defended him after the game, and was asked again about him in the press conference today. The coach was asked whether he was happy with Delap’s contribution even with just one league goal scored this year.

Rosenior defends Delap record after odd game against Hull

Liam Rosenior speaks after a Leeds draw.

“100%. [Non-goalscoring contribution] is the first thing I look for in my strikers,” the Chelsea manager said.

“I look for people who contribute to the team winning games of football. Liam certainly did that against Hull. He’s done that in other games as well.

“All strikers want to score goals, of course. That’s why they play the game. That’s what they love to do. But there’s a lot more. You need 11 attackers. You need 11 defenders at all times. Liam defends from the front amazingly well. So does Joao [Pedro]. They contribute to what has been a good record for us recently. And it has to continue.”

After a break for the Hull game, JP will be back in the team on Saturday hoping to keep up his hot form.

In other news…

Reece James and Cole Palmer are having their minutes managed this season, but according to Liam Rosenior it’s likely that both of them will be picked tomorrow.

Another injury situation we got an update on was Marc Cucurella. The club are really not giving much away on that front, which we can’t help but find a little worrying.

Check out the latest edition of Simon Phillips’ SPTC podcast here: