Gus Poyet: Chelsea Owners Should Keep Faith With Manager Liam Rosenior
The pressure on Liam Rosenior is starting to mount after Chelsea's hopes of playing Champions League football next season suffered a major blow following a 1-0 defeat by Manchester United.
The Blues have lost their last four Premier League games without scoring, a run which has left them seven points adrift of fifth-placed Liverpool with five games remaining and 66/1 on betting sites to finish in the top four.
Two days before the loss to the Red Devils, the club's co-owner Behdad Eghali hardly gave Rosenior a ringing endorsement when he said: "I think we're behind Liam. Of course, it's a results business, but we think he can be successful long term."
Rosenior made a decent start to his tenure at Stamford Bridge after replacing Enzo Maresca in January on a five-and-a-half-year deal, but one win in their last eight Premier League games resulted in some fans chanting "we want our Chelsea back" at the weekend.
However, former Blues midfielder Gus Poyet believes the club's owners should keep faith with Rosenior, who had a successful spell with young players at Strasbourg, which is also owned by the Chelsea hierarchy.
In an exclusive interview with Gambling.com, the Uruguayan claimed the Club World Cup champions and 2025 Europa Conference League winners, who have an FA Cup semi-final against Leeds on Sunday, should stick with Rosenior.
Chelsea fans protested against the club's ownership before tonight's game against Manchester United. pic.twitter.com/4oHg0tOT9F
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) April 18, 2026
He said: "He is the manager and you can’t keep chopping and changing managers every season. This brings no stability.
"Players are being told one thing and then another, so it doesn’t help them or players listening to the coach if they play one style and then a new coach comes in and he wants to play another.
"Also with players coming in and out of favour, this is not good and doesn’t help in the long term. So yes, Rosenior is the coach and can be next season too. They are building now with a new, young team."
Poyet, who made more than 100 Premier League appearances for the west London club between 1997-2001, also believes it is a mistake to say that the club have failed in the four years since Clearlake Capital took ownership of the club.
"To say it went wrong with respect isn’t right," he said. "You look at six or seven months ago and Chelsea have just won another European competition.
"Then they followed up with the Club World Cup and were looking ahead to this Premier League season with many positives and lots of top young players with a manager who had delivered two trophies.
"So forward to now and it’s not a fair review of the four years. You look at Chelsea and you say they should be winning Premier League and Champions Leagues, but it takes time.
"But for Chelsea now it’s about stability. Keep everything in house with no external noise and everything can calm down. Try to win the FA Cup and qualify for Champions League and that would leave them in a good situation.
"Things move quickly in football. You look at Arsenal and a few weeks ago they were winning the quadruple, now they only have two trophies.
"So it’s not a case of a quick fix. I share again, for Chelsea the fix is to be stable, keep everything in house now, focus on the Premier League, qualifying for Champions League and winning the FA Cup. So that is what is needed now. Stop the outside noise and ensure the team are together to achieve the goals they want to achieve this season."
Despite Chelsea struggling to finish in the top five, Poyet thinks the current crop of youngsters can challenge for domestic and European honours in the 2026/27 campaign without making too many changes to the squad.
He said: "You have many top players in the squad. World Cup winners, European winners, so these are top players in Enzo Fernandez, Marc Cucurella. You have Cole Palmer and Reece James too. Moises Caicedo is a key part as well.
"Joao Pedro was bought in the summer, so you have to back the players you have. You have top young wingers too in Estevao who is a player you definitely want in your side.
"Chelsea are progressing, so challenging for all the trophies they enter is the objective. Premier League, domestic cups and hopefully Champions League, too.
"It’s simple for a team like Chelsea. They should be going deep in all these competitions and the club have a habit of winning trophies, so the aim is to continue this."
Chelsea fans! Should Liam Rosenior be given more time and is this squad good enough to challenge for domestic and European honours next season? Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.
