Liam Rosenior knows he has no time to waste as he begins the task of transforming Chelsea from Premier League also-rans to title contenders and the Englishman has told the squad he wants to hit the ground running.
Rosenior, who replaced Italian Enzo Maresca, joined Chelsea on Tuesday from Racing Strasbourg and will take charge of his first game on Saturday when the London club travel to Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup.
He was in the stands on Wednesday as Chelsea were beaten 2-1 by Fulham, a defeat which left them eighth with one win from their last nine league games.
“For this opportunity to come up at this stage of my career is great but my biggest focus is not about being Chelsea manager, it’s about being a winning Chelsea manager,” Rosenior told Sky Sports ahead of Wednesday’s defeat.
“That is the message I gave the players yesterday when I was fortunate enough to meet them for the first time. We need to hit the ground running for the rest of the season.”
Chelsea have a hectic run of fixtures in January and early February with 10 games in 31 days.
Asked if it would be difficult to impose his style with matches coming thick and fast, Rosenior said: “No, I think Enzo, the previous manager, has done a really, really good job with the team tactically. My game is not dissimilar.
“There are different characteristics in terms of the way that I play that I want to put my stamp on. People talk about tactics and systems and philosophies, (but) I want to see good energy in a team. I want to see a team that’s hard to beat.
“I want to see a team that runs for each other and fights. And they’re the things that I can get a lot of work done with the lads.”
