A 75% win rate, but plenty of concerns: Analysing Liam Rosenior's first month at Chelsea

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 6 Feb 2026 11:19 GMT
• 7 min read

Analysis

Today marks exactly one month since Liam Rosenior was appointed as the new permanent Chelsea head coach.

During that time, he has overseen a total of eight matches, winning six and suffering two narrow defeats to arch-rivals Arsenal in the Carabao Cup.

On face value, the only blemishes are two one-goal losses to the best team in Europe. When digging a little deeper, however, how successful has the first month of the Rosenior era at Stamford Bridge really been?

FootballTransfers takes a look…

Liam Rosenior’s first month at Chelsea analysed

The first thing to note is that Rosenior has barely had any time on the training pitch since his arrival in west London.

Chelsea have played eight matches in 31 days since he was appointed, without a single midweek free. It’s been a constant cycle of play, rest, recover, repeat.

His own tactical twerks are therefore yet to fully come to fruition and Chelsea’s basic set-ups in attacking and defensive phases of play look remarkably similar to their style under Enzo Maresca.

There are only subtle differences as the congested fixture schedule has limited Rosenior’s ability to put his own stamp on this Chelsea team.

But, crucially, there have already been a number of red flags despite six wins in eight matches.

The first 45 minutes against Charlton Athletic in his opening game in charge was uneventful and a stunning volley from Jorrel Hato in the dying embers of the first-half was ultimately crucial. Two second-half stoppage goals from Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez also made the scoreline far more attractive than it could've been.

Then came a 3-2 defeat to Arsenal, in which Mikel Arteta’s side could easily have put the tie to bed. Rosenior deployed an extremely risky build-up system and it created an immense level of nervousness in the Stamford Bridge crowd and this translated onto the players.

Three days later, Brentford were the better team and it was fairly unexplainable that Keith Andrews’ side didn’t score in the first-half. Errors from Michael Kayode and Caoimhin Kelleher led to Chelsea’s two goals, rather than any tactical input from Rosenior.

Chelsea were then extremely laboured against Pafos in the Champions League and it took a 78th minute Moises Caicedo header from a corner to eventually beat the minnows 1-0. Maresca struggled to break down a deep block throughout his spell with the Blues and this was once again an issue versus Pafos.

Against Crystal Palace, Chelsea put in arguably their best performance of the Rosenior era, but they still should’ve been behind when Jean-Phillipe Mateta missed a glorious one-v-one chance before Estevao Willian opened the scoring in the 34th minute. The Eagles also created six big chances during the game and mustered more shots than Chelsea (13 to 10).

Then came back-to-back 3-2 wins over Napoli and West Ham United.

During the former, Rosenior bizarrely lined up with only one natural centre-back, Wesley Fofana, and he implemented a high pressing system that backfired massively. Chelsea were 2-1 down at half-time and it wasn’t until Trevoh Chalobah came on that control shifted back towards the Blues.

Joao Pedro then scored a stunning effort from outside the box with his weaker foot, before the Brazilian added a second on the counter-attack, with Napoli needing a goal to avoid elimination.

Things were even worse in the first-half against West Ham, in which Chelsea conceded two goals and were totally outplayed. Rosenior swiftly turned to his substitutes bench and the Blues eventually won the game thanks to a stoppage time strike from Enzo Fernandez.

The final red flag is a huge one. In the seven matches since Chelsea’s 5-1 win over Charlton, they have averaged just 4.3 shots on target per game.

Arsenal’s lack of potency has been widely discussed in recent weeks and it could impact their bid to win the quadruple this season. But, they are still averaging 5.3 shots on target over their last seven matches and given the Gunners’ widely known struggles from open play, this demonstrates the major issue Rosenior’s side have faced in regards to generating high-quality opportunities.

If the Blues are to sustain their current run of form, this simply has to improve.

Now the negatives have been covered, let’s get onto the positives.

Rosenior has fostered an environment that has enabled Joao Pedro to rediscover the form he displayed at the Club World Cup. After several months of middling performances, the Brazil international is back to his brilliant best in all phases of play.

Andrey Santos and Fernandez have also excelled since the arrival of the new boss, while Chalobah has continued his impressive form at the back.

In addition, he has built a winning mentality. Six victories in eight matches isn’t to be sniffed at, regardless of the opposition, and results are far more important than performances at this crucial stage of the season.

Chelsea remain in the mix in the Premier League, while safe passage to the Champions League last-16 has crucially earned Rosenior two free midweeks to work on tactical details on the training pitch.

Coming into a new environment is never easy and given Rosenior has been thrown into the deep end with a hectic fixture schedule, the results are incredibly impressive.

His gameplan in the second leg against Arsenal didn’t work, and it has been widely criticised by the likes of Paul Merson, but Rosenior showed immense tactical maturity at the Emirates Stadium and it was the best strategy for Chelsea given the personnel they had available.

This is an encouraging sign and proves Rosenior has the managerial nous to adapt to whatever situation he is faced with.

All in all, it’s been an extremely positive first month from a results perspective for Rosenior, but Chelsea’s performances must improve if they are to qualify for the Champions League yet again this season.

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