Four problems Liam Rosenior must fix at Chelsea as pressure builds after Everton defeat | OneFootball

Blues on wretched run and in danger of missing out on Champions League

The international break arrives at a good time for Chelsea.

Chelsea are sixth in the Premier League but failed to capitalise on Liverpool’s defeat to Brighton as Everton thrashed them 3-0 at the Hill Dickinson Stadium to pile the pressure on Liam Rosenior.

Cut out individual errors

When Rosenior spoke in his post-match press conference at Everton and talked of “lapses in concentration” happening “too many times recently”, he was referring to the unforced errors that have dogged Chelsea for weeks.

It has been a period full of individual mistakes. Filip Jorgensen’s errors against Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg, Mamadou Sarr’s slip-up in the second, Robert Sanchez’s howler at Everton - errors are a part of football but rotten moments have been all too common for Chelsea of late. They have contributed to their form nosediving.

Robert Sanchez made another mistake at Everton

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There is not a great deal the head coach can do to prevent more of them. Instead, players must take personal responsibility and maintaining in-game focus is a must. Huge games await Chelsea and they cannot afford to keep being punished from their own unforced errors.

This is something Chelsea absolutely must improve if they are to finish in the top four or five.

Their four defeats on the bounce against PSG (twice), Newcastle and Everton have come with an aggregate score of 12-2 to their opponents, and yet, incredibly, it is Chelsea who won those matches on aggregate on the xG metric.

While that implies positives about their ability to reach the final third and make chances, what it means for the quality of their finishing is damning.

Chelsea have slipped to sixth in the Premier League

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For the first time since September 2023, Chelsea have now gone three consecutive games without finding the net, and they have lacked a cutting edge and a decisiveness in front of goal. Matvei Safonov in the PSG second leg and Jordan Pickford at the Hill Dickinson both put in outstanding performances, but it was up to Chelsea in both cases to be more ruthless and give the goalkeepers no chance.

The most damning statistic of all was doing the rounds in the aftermath of their battering at Everton and understandably commanded a mention on Match of the Day. Chelsea, it has been confirmed, have been outrun in every single Premier League game this season.

For a team hopeful of being back in Europe’s premier competition next season, that is such a poor look. It is a run that spans no fewer than 31 matches and the tenures of two head coaches, signifying something endemic within the team.

How can Chelsea expect to achieve want they wish to if they are being outfought by everyone they come up against, teams better than them and teams far worse? It feels reductive to suggest that a team must work harder, as if to simplify more complex issues. And yet for Chelsea it is clearly the case.

Improve defensive organisation

Rosenior has chopped and changed his back four (or three) for almost every game of his 19-match tenure, sometimes enforced by injury but often not.

It has led to confusion and disjointedness in defence for a team who have shipped more league goals than Brighton, Sunderland, and 14th-place Crystal Palace.

Wesley Fofana’s poor recent form has epitomised the erosion of Chelsea’s defensive resolve in recent weeks. Supposedly a fast and agile centre-back with great recovery pace, his ropey defending with back to goal made possible Ousmane Dembele’s goal at the Parc des Princes and Anthony Gordon’s winner at Stamford Bridge, as well as Beto’s opener on Saturday.

Chelsea’s last Premier League clean sheet came all the way back on January 17.

It was Rosenior’s very first league game in charge of a team who, in many aspects, have since gone backwards.