THE VERDICT: JAMIE CARRAGHER IS RIGHT—CHELSEA NEED A WINNER, NOT A PROJECT MANAGER LIKE LIAM ROSENIOR
Jamie Carragher slams Chelsea's move for Liam Rosenior, claiming the 41-year-old lacks the experience to deliver trophies.
Jamie Carragher isn’t convinced that bringing in Liam Rosenior will get Chelsea any closer to the Premier League title.
Unless something changes at the last minute, Rosenior’s set to take over as manager after Enzo Maresca left on New Year’s Day. Right now, Rosenior is coaching in France at Strasbourg, another club owned by BlueCo. He’s meeting Chelsea’s top brass on Monday to talk things through in person.
Everyone expects Chelsea to announce Rosenior before their next game—a west London derby against Fulham on Wednesday. Over at Strasbourg, club president Marc Keller has already started looking for Rosenior’s replacement, and they’ve narrowed it down to three options.
Chelsea played their first match without Maresca—a 1-1 draw at Manchester City, with Enzo Fernandez grabbing a last-minute equaliser. Calum McFarlane filled in as interim manager for that match but will head back to the U21S once Rosenior arrives.
Rosenior has managed at Strasbourg, Hull City, and Derby County so far. As a player, he spent time with Hull, Fulham, Reading, and Brighton before retiring in 2018.
Carragher liked Maresca and wasn’t surprised to see him go, especially once things soured between him and the Chelsea board. Carragher isn’t sold on Rosenior, though. He thinks this job’s coming too soon for the 41-year-old.
“I was a big fan of Enzo Maresca,” Carragher said on Sky Sports. “He held his own against some of the league’s best. But honestly, I saw this coming—if you start speaking out of turn, especially at Chelsea with all those sporting directors, it’s not going to end well. When the results dipped, and he missed a press conference, it was inevitable.”
Rosenior, for his part, tried to keep things low-key when asked about the Chelsea rumours. “There’s a lot of noise, a lot of speculation,” he told local reporters. “But as a coach, if you get caught up in it, you lose focus. I enjoy my time here, and I love this club, but I can’t promise anything—no one can. You could say you’ll stay for years and get sacked the next day.”
Carragher thinks the spotlight now shifts to Chelsea’s ownership. “I’ve been pretty critical of the way they’ve done things these last few years,” he said. “Just look at the managers: they started with Thomas Tuchel, who won the Champions League. Now they’re about to bring in Rosenior, who’s managed Derby, Hull, and Strasbourg.
“It’s a massive opportunity for Rosenior, but Chelsea and their fans aren’t used to these kinds of appointments. They’re used to big names—Mourinho, Hiddink, Conte—guys who come in and make a huge impact. I don’t see Rosenior doing that.
“His main target will be to get them into the Champions League next season, and they can do that. With five English teams likely qualifying again, it’s right there for them. But honestly, I don’t think this is the kind of hire that gets Chelsea back to winning the Premier League or the Champions League. That’s what the club and the fans expect.
“That’s not a knock on Rosenior—he’s young and has time to grow as a coach. But for me, this job’s probably come a bit too early for him to deliver the success Chelsea should be aiming for.”
Gary Neville, the former Manchester United and England defender, isn’t convinced either. He weighed in on his Sky Sports podcast: “You can’t win anything with kids. Alan Hansen was spot on. Chelsea needs some experience at the club. If you’ve got young players, you need an experienced manager too. But here they go again, another young manager. Young players need real authority and guidance.”
Chelsea’s 1-1 draw at Manchester City leaves them fifth in the table, three points outside the Champions League spots.
AWONIYI DOUBLE LEAVES NOTTINGHAM FOREST ON THE VERGE OF PREMIER LEAGUE SAFETY
Nottingham Forest moved closer to safety with a 3-1 win over Chelsea, while West Ham fell into the relegation zone after Spurs won.
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Nottingham Forest came out of the weekend looking pretty safe after pulling off an impressive 3-1 win at Chelsea. They’re almost clear of the relegation mess. Tottenham’s big away win at Aston Villa shook things up too, and now West Ham are back in the bottom three, running out of time faster than ever.
Forest have stepped up just when they needed to, leaving West Ham and Tottenham behind with a string of solid performances. Honestly, no one saw this coming, especially since Vitor Pereira shuffled his lineup with eight changes, fresh off a Europa League win against Aston Villa.
Even so, Forest were ahead within 90 seconds, thanks to Taiwo Awoniyi’s quick strike. By the 15th minute, Igor Jesus calmly buried a penalty after Malo Gusto’s reckless foul in the box. Chelsea had a chance to get back in it, but Cole Palmer wasted a penalty right before the break after a scary head collision involving Jesse Derry.
Awoniyi doubled down and scored again early in the second half, pushing Forest six points ahead of West Ham with just three games left.
West Ham’s weekend started badly; they looked flat and lost to Brentford. Things got worse Sunday night when Tottenham pulled off their first back-to-back Premier League wins since August 2025, beating a heavily rotated Aston Villa side 2-1.
Forest is now out of West Ham’s reach, or almost. Tottenham’s still close enough for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team to worry, but with three tough games coming up, Spurs could stay up even without another win, unless West Ham digs deep and pulls off something unexpected before their home finale against Leeds.
Right now, Forest can practically taste safety. Spurs finally see a way out after weeks of struggle. As for West Ham, they’re left hoping for a miracle, a last-minute twist to dodge the drop.
CESC FABREGAS CONFIRMS INTEREST IN PREMIER LEAGUE RETURN AMID CHELSEA'S MANAGER SEARCH
As Chelsea searches for a new manager, Cesc Fabregas breaks his silence on his future at Como and his Premier League ambitions.
Cesc Fabregas recalls exactly how a conversation with Jose Mourinho prompted him to join Chelsea, despite having the opportunity to return to Arsenal.
After winning six trophies in just three seasons, the Spanish World Cup winner left Barcelona for the second time in 2014. That summer, Fabregas made a move back to the Premier League, signing with Chelsea for about €33 million.
He already knew English football well. Fabregas had arrived at Arsenal as a 16-year-old from Barcelona in 2003 and made 212 Premier League appearances for them. When he decided to leave Barcelona, Manchester City also wanted him, but Chelsea convinced him, mostly thanks to Mourinho.
Talking with talkSPORT’s Rory Jennings on YouTube, Fabregas laid out how it all happened. “Honestly, when I made up my mind to leave Barcelona, my first thought was just to go back to Arsenal. They had this buyback clause; they had two weeks to use it after I told them I was leaving. They knew about it but didn’t take it. That surprised me a little, but in the end, I had to think about my career. I was 27, at the peak of my career, and I wanted to continue performing and winning trophies. City and Chelsea were both options.
“But when Mourinho spoke to me, that was it. He showed me his plans for the team and told me about Diego Costa, Courtois, and Filipe Luis and how, with those guys, we’d win the league. He was right, by the way. We won both the Premier League and the Carling Cup.”
Fabregas wasted no time winning over Chelsea fans. On his debut at Burnley, he set up two goals, including a stunning assist for Andre Schurrle. He finished his first season at Chelsea with five goals and 24 assists, along with Premier League and League Cup medals.
Things dipped the next season. Fabregas got just 15 goal contributions, and Chelsea slipped all the way to tenth. But when Antonio Conte took charge in 2016-17, they bounced back, and Fabregas picked up another league title.
He added an FA Cup win in 2018, his second, after his earlier one with Arsenal, and left for Monaco a few months later. His last Chelsea match came in the FA Cup against Nottingham Forest. When he got subbed off, he couldn’t hold back tears.
Chelsea supporters still sing about him; that “Oh, Fabregas is magic...” chant sticks around. And with his name in the conversation for a possible return, maybe they haven’t seen the last of him yet.
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