Trevoh Chalobah defends Chelsea players after damning Liam Rosenior claim | OneFootball

Blues players slammed by the under-fire head coach after Brighton defeat

Trevoh Chalobah has defended the Chelsea squad after Liam Rosenior claimed several players were not trying their hardest during Tuesday’s defeat at Brighton.

Chelsea have now lost five league games in a row without scoring, the worst run of its kind since 1912, which leaves the Blues in very real danger of missing out on Champions League football next season.

The pressure on Rosenior, who has lost seven of the last eight games across all competitions, is intensifying after a disastrous performance at the Amex in which he faced angry chants from supporters.

Chelsea did not record a single shot on target as they were comfortably beaten by Fabian Hurzeler’s side, and speaking post-match, Rosenior called out his players for their lack of intensity and courage.

Trevoh Chalobah has defended his team-mates

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"I keep coming out and defending the players - that's indefensible, that performance tonight,” Rosenior said.

"The manner of the goals we conceded, the amount of duels that we lost, the lack of intensity in the team. Something needs to change drastically right now.

"I think the players need to have a look in the mirror for what they put in. You can talk about tactics... tactics come after the basics.

"Having more courage to play, winning duels, winning headers, tackles, conceding terrible goals. That was an unacceptable performance tonight."

Liam Rosenior is under increasing pressure

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"I will defend the players when they deserve to be defended,” Rosenior added to Chelsea TV. “Three or four of them gave everything. I’m not going to name names, but [just] three or four is not good enough.

"I have my own ideas about what needs to happen at this club moving forward. All I can do at the moment is apologise to the fans for what we put in today."

Chelsea have been outrun in every Premier League game this season, with Brighton running over 7k more compared to the Blues in a one-sided affair on the south coast.

Chalobah, though, was quick to disagree with his manager over the idea that a lack of effort had contributed to Chelsea’s comprehensive defeat against the Seagulls.

“I thought personally that the boys were running their socks off,” Chalobah said post-match.

“Everyone in the changing room is tired. It’s nothing to do with effort. We gave it our all, we just got beat today.”