Chelsea star issues Liam Rosenior verdict amid sack rumours

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 29 Mar 2026 09:59 CDT
• 4 min read

News

Chelsea defender Malo Gusto has defended Liam Rosenior amid rumours that he could be sacked by the Stamford Bridge hierarchy following four consecutive defeats in all competitions.

Rosenior was appointed as the new permanent Chelsea head coach in January, following an 18-month spell at sister club Strasbourg, and after an encouraging start, he has been widely criticised in recent weeks.

Reports have hinted that he could be sacked if the Blues fail to secure Champions League qualification this season, although BBC Sport and The Telegraph both claim that Rosenior’s job is safe, despite a recent downturn in results.

But, an 8-2 aggregate loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last-16 has ramped up the pressure on the Blues head coach, while the fact they haven’t scored a single goal in their last three games is cause for concern.

Despite this, Gusto believes Rosenior is the right man to lead Chelsea forward.

Malo Gusto defends Liam Rosenior

Speaking to ESPN while on international duty with France, Gusto admitted: “I think he [Rosenior] is a top coach, I saw that a lot of people criticised him.

“Not really [understanding why he is being criticised so much] I have worked with him a lot since he joined Chelsea. I think he is a top person first of all, a top manager as well and as you say, he is young.

“He is a lot of things for the future, but if he is the Chelsea manager it is because he has the talent for this.

“As I said before, for us as a team, we have to believe in him, believe in the way we play, to stick to our plan and see how it goes.

“He is a good person, he is really honest, really simple, you can see that he is really passionate. He wants to share it with us his passion for football and I feel like I want to play for him, I want to show my best when he puts me on the pitch.”

When asked about the departure of Enzo Maresca on New Year’s Day, Gusto added: “It was a bit complicated for us in the middle of the season when Enzo Maresca was sacked. So a new coach coming in now, it was a big change I think for the team, everyone was surprised to be honest.

“But in football that can happen, so we had to adapt. That is what we tried to do, before the international break it was a tough few weeks for us in terms of results because that is not what we expected.

“Against PSG, there were a few games in the Premier League against Newcastle and Everton as well that we lost.”

He continued: It is a bit hard [changing system], when you start to understand one and then right away you have to change to another one, it is maybe a little bit more [difficult] for us because we have a little less experience.

“A lot of us are young but we have quality to deal with this but we just have to trust the process and do our best to put Chelsea where it is supposed to be.”

The FootballTransfers app

Check out FootballTransfers' new app for all of football's big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.

The FootballTransfers app is available in the Apple App Store. Download here:

•App Store