Rosenior encouraged by Chelsea bravery despite Arsenal defeat

Liam Rosenior insists he was encouraged buy the ‘bravery’ Chelsea showed despite the club’s Carabao Cup semi-final defeat to Arsenal.

Chelsea lost the first leg of their semi-final tie 3-2 at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night. Ben White opened the scoring for Arsenal inside seven minutes as Robert Sanchez failed to deal with a corner, before Viktor Gyokeres doubled the visitors’ lead shortly after half-time.

Rosenior made changes after that goal, with substitute Alejandro Garnacho pulling a goal back just four minutes after his introduction. Martin Zubimendi’s fine goal restored Arsenal’s two-goal cushion, but a second strike from Garnacho leaves Chelsea in the tie ahead of the return.

Despite defeat, Rosenior said there was plenty to be encouraged about after his second game in charge.

“I was proud of the bravery of the players to try to execute certain aspects of what I’ve asked,” Rosenior said at his post-match press conference.

“I’ve been in for six days and we’ve had two matches [in that time]. I’m not asking for time because I think the group is good enough to win now, but I need to put my stamp on the team as well. Otherwise, there’s no point me being here.

“I want us to be high tempo, I want us to be front foot, I want us to control and dominate games.

“We created chances today from transition, but we also created chances from build and possession moments today, which is really pleasing against a very good team defensively.

“I’m very encouraged by a lot of things I saw today. I’m not happy to lose any game, but in terms of a building block for Saturday, there are a lot of things I can show the players that they can keep improving.”

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