Stop Moaning Chelsea Fans. Enjoy the Wins | OneFootball

I am a strong advocate for criticizing your own club—not just as a believer in freedom of expression, but as a fundamental right of every supporter. Fans should be able to call out their club’s wrongdoings honestly, without fear of reprimand.

Social media has warped this reality into something far more binary. You’re told there are only two acceptable paths: be blindly tribal and relentlessly positive, or be relentlessly negative, dismissing any optimism as delusion. Or, as the kids call it, “staying in your lane.”

Both paths are objectively dumb.

Football supporters are emotional creatures, reacting in real time to what unfolds in front of them. And following Wednesday night’s rousing victory in Naples, an entirely predictable backlash emerged to counter the positivity. The argument went something like this: the performance wasn’t actually that good, and individual brilliance from João Pedro (below, center) merely saved Liam Rosenior’s skin.

There were red flags. Plenty of them. Chelsea winning at a notoriously difficult ground—coming from 2–1 down at half-time—was, for some, not enough to outweigh the tactical shortcomings.

But unsurprisingly, there is nuance here.

Rosenior got the initial setup wrong. Opting to start with only one recognised centre-back against Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 was a strange choice, and it caused a variety of issues.

“I wanted to go man-for-man all over the pitch. We knew we needed to win the game,” Rosenior explained afterwards. “I wanted us to be really aggressive. Napoli were very clever after 20–25 minutes.”

“We won the ball back very high early on, but when they started missing our press and going more direct, the distances grew. We corrected that. We stayed man-to-man in the second half but pressed a little deeper, and that helped our compactness.”

Napoli repeatedly exposed the vast green space behind Chelsea’s midfield. Wesley Fofana, off the pace on the night, was isolated and made to look foolish—first by Antonio Vergara’s Maradona turn, then by Rasmus Højlund beating him to convert from a cross.

Not any single fault.

Football is a blend of the individual, the collective, and the system a coach implements. In Naples, all three played a role. An individual struggled, the collective suffered, and the system initially failed. Responsibility doesn’t have to be singular.

At half-time, Chelsea looked a mess. There was a genuine risk the night could spiral if Rosenior failed to adapt. But the key point is that he did adapt.

The introductions of Trevoh Chalobah and Cole Palmer (right) were decisive—helping to stifle Napoli’s attacks and directly contributing to the goals that won the game.

Rosenior himself highlighted the adjustment: Chelsea sat slightly deeper, stayed man-to-man, but with improved compactness. Napoli’s routes to goal became clogged. The chaos eased.

Yes, João Pedro was ridiculously good. But so was Cole Palmer in the Club World Cup final. So was Estêvão in the win over Barcelona. In those cases, individual brilliance was rightly praised alongside the coach’s influence. Why is Rosenior afforded less credit?

It feels like many have already decided their take on the new coach. Enzo Maresca was hailed as a Pep disciple with all the answers; Rosenior, replacing him, hasn’t been granted the same grace. Why?

Not perfect, but still damn good.

Objective reality still matters. Despite the strong early results, only three of the six performances have been truly convincing. Brentford and Pafos raised concerns. Arsenal could have battered Chelsea. These critiques are valid.

But winning away at Napoli is a significant result however you frame it.

They hadn’t lost at home since December 2024. They are reigning Italian champions. Chelsea, meanwhile, were winless away in the Champions League prior to this match and have repeatedly shown an inability to cope with hostile environments—even against weaker opposition than Napoli.

Given all that, isn’t it a sign of mental strength that, when adversity hit, the coach and players found a way? Individual moments are baked into the fabric of every football match. João Pedro’s form since Rosenior’s arrival is notable—and perhaps reflects a player finally feeling trusted and empowered.

None of us know what comes next. It could implode within a month. Another coach could arrive. With this club, you can never rule it out.

But does that mean we must caveat every moment of joy, just in case we look foolish later?

That feels like a pointless exercise—even for those with public platforms or regular content commitments.

I am a Chelsea supporter. Celebrating big goals and big wins is part of the point.

If you can’t celebrate a win like Wednesday night, when can you?

You can follow my coverage of Chelsea on YouTube at SonOfChelsea. More written coverage of the club on Substack. Follow me on X for more thoughts, along with listening to the podcast.