'Everything he says is waffle, drivel, nothing' Liam Rosenior's former teammate says Chelsea boss is unrecognisable these days

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - MARCH 21: Liam Rosenior, Manager of Chelsea, reacts during the Premier League match between Everton and Chelsea at Goodison Park on March 21, 2026 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Chelsea Football Club/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Liam Rosenior (Image credit: Getty Images)

Liam Rosenior's Chelsea tenure has hit a rocky patch in recent weeks, having begun his time at the helm with a flurry of wins.

Defeats to Paris Saint-Germain, Newcastle United and Everton have ramped up the pressure on the recently-appointed Blues head coach, particularly due to the several-goal nature of the losses.

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Liam Rosenior 'unrecognisable' to former teammate in Chelsea role

Liam Rosenior coach of Chelsea FC during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD8 match between SSC Napoli and Chelsea FC at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on January 28, 2026 in Naples, Italy.

Liam Rosenior leads his Chelsea team in Naples (Image credit: Ivan Romano/Getty Images)

According to ex-Republic of Ireland international and Hull City player Kevin Kilbane, Rosenior has changed since he played alongside him in East Yorkshire.

"I played with Liam at Hull and I got on well with Liam, he used to tell some great stories of Roy Keane when he was his manager at Ipswich," Kilbane said.

WIGAN, ENGLAND - MARCH 17: Kevin Kilbane of Wigan Athletic in action with Liam Rosenior of Fulham during the Barclays Premiership match between Wigan Athletic and Fulham at the JJB Stadium on March 17, 2007 in Wigan, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Kevin Kilbane;Liam Rosenior

Rosenior tackles Kilbane during their playing days (Image credit: Getty Images)

"He’s unrecognisable to the player and the person I knew. It’s like he’s swallowed a psychologist’s manual or a sporting mentor’s memoir. To me, everything he says is waffle, drivel, nothing."

“It’s like he tries to write as many quotes down as possible and tries to get them into a pre-match talk or post-match whenever addressing the media. If I’m a player being asked to do that huddle, I wouldn’t feel comfortable if I was a Chelsea player."

Kilbane was discussing the decision to huddle around the ball ahead of Chelsea's game versus Newcastle, which saw the team beaten 1-0.

Images of the huddle, which some supporters have deemed performative, went viral due to the presence of match referee Paul Tierney being caught up in the middle.

Rosenior faced questions from the media regarding his methods as well as scrutiny online. The coach was seen passing a note with instructions to substitute Alejandro Garnacho during the closing stages of Chelsea's 8-3 aggregate defeat by PSG last week. This, too, was criticised considering the tie was all but over.

Joe Donnohue
Senior Digital Writer

Joe joined FourFourTwo as senior digital writer in July 2025 after five years covering Leeds United in the Championship and Premier League. Joe's 'Mastermind' specialist subject is 2000s-era Newcastle United having had a season ticket at St. James' Park for 10 years before relocating to Leeds and later London. Joe takes a keen interest in youth football, covering PL2, U21 Euros, as well as U20 and U17 World Cups in the past, in addition to hosting the industry-leading football recruitment-focused SCOUTED podcast. He is also one of the lucky few to have 'hit top bins' as a contestant on Soccer AM. It wasn't a shin-roller.

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