'What I witnessed I never want to see again': Rosenior rips Chelsea players after 'unacceptable' Brighton defeat

Liam Rosenior blames Chelsea players for Brighton defeat

Liam Rosenior went straight at the Chelsea players after the 3-0 defeat to Brighton at the Amex on Tuesday, holding no punches in his assessment of the match.

"It was unacceptable in every aspect," Rosenior said when asked to assess Chelsea's performance. "I keep coming out to defend the players, but that was indefensible tonight. Something needs to change drastically right now."

Rosenior questioned his team's commitment on the pitch tonight, a relatively reasonable conclusion given how miserably bad they performed.

"We need to look in the mirror, I need to look in the mirror," Rosenior said. "The performance in terms of professionalism wasn't there. It's the most difficult night in my career. Some of the things I witnessed today I never want to see again.

"I'm hurting. I'm numb. Tonight doesn't represent me or the football club in any way."

Later, in his post-match press conference, Rosenior echoed his earlier sentiments.

"I have my own ideas, I am not here to make excuses," Rosenior told the media after the match. "That was unacceptable from everyone involved with me at the head of it. That needs to change.

"It is accountability. I have defended the players at times when it was the correct thing but I can’t defend that performance. It doesn’t represent this football club, it doesn’t represent anything I ask from the group and that has to change.

"I feel numb I’m so angry. I always speak on what I see and that was unacceptable. The goals we conceded were unacceptable and that is something I have to hold my hands up to.

“I will look at the team, will look at individuals and I will look at a team I can trust to do the basics of football and we should not be talking about the basics of football at this level. It is something we have to adjust very quickly.

“Tonight was not [about] tactical. This was about desire, spirit, courage and I did not see enough of that tonight."

VIDEO:Watch Liam Rosenior's rant in UK

Chelsea reach new low in Brighton defeat

Rosenior's comments come on the heels of a dismal 90-minute performance in which Chelsea had just two total shots worth 0.08 xG by the 70th minute, and they finished with just six on the evening without a single one finding the target.

Meanwhile, the Blues were carved up on the other end, as they conceded 15 shots to Brighton, nine of which were on target. Chelsea looked listless on the ball, and failed to generate almost any meaningful attacking chances despite holding 54% possession throughout the game.

The loss moved Chelsea to two ugly club milestones. The defeat was their 12th straight league match without a clean sheet, their longest such run since the 1996/97 season. Meanwhile, they reached five straight top division defeats without scoring a goal, the club's longest such streak since 1912, now well over seven hours of game time without finding the back of the net.

In context of this season, the defeat saw Chelsea jumped by Brighton in the standings, dropping to seventh on 48 points, leaving them seven back of Liverpool in the fifth and final Champions League spot. Sixth could become a Champions League qualifying position, however, if Aston Villa win the Europa League, so every point is valuable the rest of the way.

Will Liam Rosenior be sacked as Chelsea manager?

Liam Rosenior's position was already in question coming into this match as the club continued to dig itself into a deeper and deeper hole in the race for European places, and his job security will have eroded further with this result.

It's likely that Rosenior will get more leeway than most managers in a similar position at Chelsea. Since he joined the BlueCo-owned club Strasbourg, ownership has groomed him to be Chelsea manager, and there will be a bit of allowance for Rosenior to learn on the fly as ownership hopes he can be in his position for the long term. Sacking him, therefore, would bring with it a feeling of wasted resources should he fail to become the manager they have spent time and energy building up his career.

Yet there are also short-term questions regarding how far Chelsea could fall in the table down the stretch of the Premier League season. Even if their race for Champions League qualification is run, ownership will not want to lose European football altogether next season, and that is absolutely a possibility should this abysmal run of form continue.

It will be interesting how much longer Todd Boehly and the rest of Chelsea management will let this go before they pull the plug and hope to salvage some kind of European qualification for next season.