Liam Rosenior was accused of playing to the gallery after one other of his gimmicks was caught on camera through the closing stages of Chelsea’s ‘shameful’ defeat against Paris Saint-Germain.
The Blues already had a mountain to climb of their attempts to overturn a 5-2 first leg deficit and reach the quarter finals on the expense of the reigning European champions, before a calamitous begin to the return leg put paid to any likelihood of a comeback.
After Mamadou Sarr’s error was punished emphatically by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia within the sixth minute there was no way back for Chelsea who conceded again on the quarter hour mark when Bradley Barcola applied a shocking finish to a flowing move.
At that stage total annihilation looked on the cards but Luis Enrique’s side settled for just yet one more goal with Senny Mayulu putting the gloss on an 8-2 aggregate thrashing with one other exquisite effort.
With the remainder of the sport a formality, Rosenior opted to make several changes with the intention to preserve the energy levels of several key players ahead of Saturday’s Premier League match against Everton.
While there was logic in that call, his insistence on arming Alejandro Garnacho with written instructions ahead of his introduction with half-hour left of a contest that had already been decided caused consternation and bemusement.
Rosenior’s methods and management have already led to unflattering comparisons with David Brent over the course of his tenure to this point and the note he handed to Garnacho was beyond comprehension for former Chelsea defender and World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf.
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Asked how we’d’ve reacted to be passed a manager’s scribblings, he told ESPN FC: ‘I might’ve gone to the touchline and asked if it was a joke or are you kidding? You think that the things I read shall be useful at once?
‘It doesn’t mean anything. Perhaps he was writing a joke. The funny thing is the guy who received it was on the lookout for one other player to offer him instructions.
‘Perhaps the player he was talking about was already substituted we don’t know. Perhaps he lost his mind, that was insane.
‘He’s not the just one to do those sorts of things. I don’t know what the brand new coaches from the brand new era are attempting to indicate us, we comprehend it’s completely useless.’
The rest of one other chaotic Chelsea campaign is not going to boil right down to whether or not Rosenior can encourage a top 4 finish and make progress within the FA Cup with a house quarter-final against Port Vale on the horizon.
Asked what his message can be to a dressing room prone to be in disarray, particularly in light of Enzo Fernandez’s comments on his future, Leboeuf added: ‘I don’t know if people would allow me to speak but I’d say to the blokes that what we did was shameful.
‘We didn’t do what we needed to do, especially the second leg. The primary leg we made mistakes and were punished.
‘But you can not have this attitude within the second leg where you have got to be sure that the opponent goes to struggle.
‘You play at home, you have got to have a warrior attitude, be aggressive in the precise way, you have got to scare the opponent and show them you might be at home and it is going to be this fashion and never the opposite way.’
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