Calum McFarlane makes swift U-turn over one thing Liam Rosenior annoyed Chelsea players with
Chelsea’s preparations to face Liverpool in the Premier League swiftly got underway following their defeat to Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge on Monday
Calum McFarlane isn’t always going to offer days off(Image: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Calum McFarlane made his Chelsea players return to Cobham the day after the Blues’ devastating defeat to Nottingham Forest. The move was in stark contrast to his decision the previous week, when he afforded the group time off following an FA Cup semi-final win over Leeds United.
McFarlane offered the gift with more than a week between games, though it did not prove fruitful. It appeared to be a smart move, with some members of Chelsea’s squad said to be unhappy that Liam Rosenior did not offer enough days off during his time in charge, according to the Daily Mail.
Given the manner of Chelsea’s defeat to Nottingham Forest, they were told to return to the training ground the next day to prepare for the clash against Liverpool.
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Speaking ahead of the clash with the Reds at Anfield, McFarlane rejected the idea that his players had downed tools. “No, I wouldn’t agree with that,” he said.
“The performances haven’t been good enough. We’re in a really bad run at the moment.
“The Leeds performance was a glimmer where we thought we could build on that and we weren’t able to do that.
“But I do see these boys every day, every training session, every meeting, in the gym, they are in a good place to go and attack games, we just haven’t been able to translate that on the game on Monday, so hopefully we can improve that on Saturday.”
McFarlane wants his team to ensure that an ‘unacceptable’ opening 15 minutes does not occur again. The Blues went 2-0 down in that time against Forest.
“Yeah, it’s down to all of us. I can be honest and open and we reviewed the game, we made some big mistakes in that first 15 minutes and Nottingham Forest punished us,” he explained.
“You can’t do that at this level. You can’t do that against teams that are fighting for their lives to stay in the league.
“Especially the form we’re in, it hits us a little bit harder, the confidence isn’t there to go and bounce back.
“Regardless of that, at any level, you can’t make the mistakes that we did in the first 15 minutes and we reviewed the game and we’re going to do our best to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
