Liam Rosenior Interview: Life as Chelsea's New Head Coach

0:10Hello and welcome to this special edition of the Two Robbie's podcast. I'm Robbie Musto. He's Robbie Earl and we had the pleasure of catching up with new Chelsea head coach Liam Rossinia. Here's our full conversation with him. Okay, Liam, thanks so much for joining us. It's been a little over two weeks as we record this that you've been in the job now at Chelsea Football Club. How have you settled in and what's your initial kind of takeaways as you've gotten to know this team and the club? It's been really enjoyable. It's been a real challenge with the amount of games that we've had and the time of the season, but I've thoroughly enjoyed every moment so far.

0:47What's made it even more enjoyable is the group of players I've worked with. The staff have been so welcoming as well. It feels like I've been there a lot longer than two weeks, which is a really good sign. And I've enjoyed working with the players and seeing their engagement and what we're trying to achieve. Liam, you managed at Derby, Hull and Strasbourg. What was it that made you feel you were ready for this step up at one of the biggest clubs in the world at Chelsea? I think everybody has their own history. Everybody starts somewhere. If you look at my career in terms of what I've achieved at those clubs and what we've done, it's always been a successful path in comparison to the level that the club started in.

1:31So why can't I do it here? The game is the game. If you can connect with your players, if you have a clear idea and understanding about what you want to achieve. Many managers who have been successful have had different routes in and they've been a success. And hopefully I can I can do it in my own way. Liam, just watching most of the games you've played up to now, it feels and it looks to me that it's kind of similar in terms of the style and some of the patterns and some of the movements from the players. is that a Liam Rossini kind of preferred way of playing is it a club philosophy or the overriding club philosophy how is that decided I know it's not as many changes or fewer changes for the team but how do you come across the style of play for this Chelsea team I think if you look at all of the managers now at the highest level I thought Enzo did a fantastic job before me tactically the way that he had the team playing was really consistent you knew what it looked like But the way of playing now is so similar, whether it's Mikel at Arsenal or Vinson at Bayern or Pep or even Slott at Liverpool.

2:39There are certain similarities in everything that the teams are doing. It may be differences in press, but in terms of positioning of players, it's all very similar. So my idea is not dissimilar to Enzo. I'm a different personality. I have different demands without the ball and with the ball, which is normal because we're all different in our own way. It's not about a club philosophy. I've been brought here because if you watch Strasbourg or Hull or Derby play, we had a clear identity there. And I want to impart that and impact the club here in the same way. Just a quick follow-up on that, Liam.

3:13In terms of the philosophy of playing out from the back, which we've seen, it looks great, you've spread so wide. Is there any flexibility with that? If things are slower, is that something you really believe in? or in certain games you might play forward a little bit earlier, that patient football, how do you feel about that evolving? Yeah, if you analyse the way my teams play, the way we build, we have a long option, we have a mid-range option and we have a short option. I'm not asking a team to play out from the back for no reason. It's where the space is. You play where the space is available to you.

3:50So, yeah, there's many different ways you can win games of football. I'm not dogmatic in terms of what I want to do. I want to win. But I think you can win games if the space is to play out from the back you play. And you can actually, if teams then come and press you high, to stop you, the space is in behind. And it's about recognising when those moments are. And the reality for any player is you don't learn until you're put in a situation. I have to put the players in situations to learn when the right time is to go long or when the right time is to play short. And then that's how you get consistent improvement in your team.

4:24I mean, since you talk about players learning and playing in your system, one player we always have difficulty quite understanding what his role is, Enzo Fernandes. Is he a six? Is he an eight? Is he a ten? Or what are his attributes? Where do you see him in your set-up? Yeah, I love Enzo because he's well-class in all of the roles you've just mentioned. You can play him as a deep line six who can get on the ball and make 100 passes a game. You can play him as an eight, as a box-to-box. He can arrive in a box and score goals, but also defend his own box. And you can play him as a ten because he can connect, he can create assists and score goals.

5:03He's just a magnificent footballer. My job, he gives me tactical flexibility for each game against different opposition. My job is to find what functions around him the best so that the team functions with him in the very best way. Liam, we're in a transfer window right now. Always kind of fascinated to hear from head coaches about the transfer philosophy and how that works. Can you give us a little insight into how it works at Chelsea, working with your directors of footballs in terms of targets and how that all works? Yeah, we're in a constant, twice, three, four times a day conversations because the market moves so quickly in January.

5:43Things come up that you don't expect, or you might get offers on your players that you don't expect. So we're very open, collaborative. I've already had two conversations today and I think it's not even two o 'clock in the afternoon here about the window, but we'll keep working. And if we think something is right for the club, in or out, we'll make that decision. Liam, you worked in the media for Sky Sports, one of our partners at NBC in the past. Has that helped you with your job now, with the scrutiny of Premier League and now Champions League? Yeah, I think you have to understand and appreciate how important your message is and who you are to the media.

6:21So for me, working in the media was very helpful. I had a great year with Sky, understanding that, with some fantastic people. But the most important aspect of the job is on the training pitch, is with the players. And that's something that I'm really going to focus on in this part of the season when we have so many games. Back in the day, players like your dad, Leroy and I, were pushing for greater representation across all areas of the game. As one of the few head coaches of colour now in the Premier League, do you feel any extra responsibility? Do you almost feel that you are representing now?

6:57That's a great question. You're always representing yourself. You should always be proud of who you are and where you come from. I'm very proud of my heritage. I'm very proud of my background. And I just want to be successful being myself. for me I'm aware you have to just be yourself and be authentic to yourself I think that's the most important thing and let other people decide what that looks like for me I'm very very proud to be manager of Chelsea Football Club and if I can show that it doesn't matter where you come from what colour your skin is what your gender is whatever it is if you're successful within a job I think anyone can be successful doing anything they're passionate about Liam, talking about success, we've got to ask you, I know it's very early yet, but in terms of realistic expectations and targets for this season and also the next two seasons, given the age of the squad and how it's developing and improving, can you give us a little bit of what you expect from the team for this season and the next couple?

8:02I think the focus for any successful team is to win the next game. It sounds very, very simplistic. It sounds very cliche, but it's the truth. If you start to think about what's going to happen in two or three years' time, you want to build towards that, but you have to focus on the now. My job is to win the next game. This is a club that has had history of winning trophies and an expectation of winning trophies. That's no different. Now I'm the manager, but the reality is the only way you get there is to win the next game. And you've obviously worked with young players before, Liam. You expect and you've seen before the development and the possibilities.

8:39We don't know the ceiling of Chelsea right now. We don't know the ceiling of some of these players. That's something that you have a little bit of experience of. Yeah, I think that's why I'm here. That's why I'm so excited because I don't know either. That's the beauty of football. But my job is to try and maximise their individual potentials and their collective potential. And I think if I do that with the talent that we have here, we have a really, really exciting future ahead of us. Liam, is there one thing that's really surprised you going into the role? Is there one thing that's really stood out, whether from training, whether it's the media, whether it's your tactical stuff, the Premier League?

9:14The humility of the group, their willingness to learn, their lack of ego. They've been a joy to work with the players, the squad. They want to do so well. That's been the biggest, the best surprise that I've had so far is their engagement in what we're doing. and it gives me real confidence that we can be successful together. Liam, brilliant, brilliant stuff. Thank you so much for your time and good luck for the rest of the season. Thank you, guys. Nice to see you. Take care. Well, that does it for this special edition of the Two Robbies podcast. We really appreciate Liam Messina for taking the time to talk to us and give us some of the background to his role as Chelsea head coach.

9:54We look forward to seeing how he and the team do in the Premier League and Champions League seasons. so for now it's good night from me and it's good night from him good night good night