Chelsea coach, Liam Rosenior
Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior says Arsenal showed his side a lack of respect during the warm-up for the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on Tuesday.
Rosenior was seen angrily shouting at those from the Gunners side to stay on their half of the pitch and not encroach on Chelsea’s area as the teams prepared for the game at Emirates Stadium, with Arsenal winning 1-0 to secure a 4-2 aggregate victory.
“It wasn’t the players,” said Rosenior. “When you warm up, you have your half and the other team have their half.
“I’ve never asked my team or coaches to encroach on the opposition’s territory. In that moment, I didn’t think it was right where they were operating, they were affecting our warm up.
“I asked them, maybe not politely, to make sure they stay in their half. I’m not here to have mind games, it’s just what I think is right and respectful. Hopefully, we respect that and other teams do too.”
He added: “There are certain etiquettes in football.
“I don’t have an issue with anyone at Arsenal Football Club. [Arsenal manager] Mikel [Arteta] is someone I’ve got so much respect for. It was just in that moment, I didn’t think that respect was shown to my team.”
Rosenior has won six of his eight games since replacing Enzo Maresca as Chelsea boss in January, with his only defeats coming in both legs of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal.
Speaking before his side play Wolves on Saturday, the Blues boss also defended his tactics and side’s performance in the second leg against the Gunners, whose winner came through a Kai Havertz goal on the counter-attack in added time.
Chelsea started off with three centre-backs before making a double attacking substitution on 59 minutes, with Cole Palmer and Estevao Willian replacing Jorrel Hato and Liam Delap, as they moved back to a more familiar shape in their push for a goal that would have levelled the tie at 3-3 on aggregate.
“The noise doesn’t surprise me at all. What other teams do has nothing to do with me,” added Rosenior.
“What people say outside the club makes no difference to my decision making. In hindsight, we didn’t go through so there are always things you can do differently, but that was a very, very solid performance against a team very good at home.”
