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Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior says he is keen to improve the team’s discipline and their defensive set plays following their 2-1 loss to Arsenal at the weekend.
Pedro Neto became the 9th player this season to be sent off in all competitions, and both of the goals conceded at the Emirates came from corners, but Rosenior believes that if he can fix both issues, the Blues can still end the campaign on a high note:
“Same story, two things. I think anyone watching this game or [the] previous few games, there’s two things that we have to improve.”
“Our discipline, and our defending set plays. If we do that, then we can still have a very, very good season.”
The 9 Chelsea players who have received red cards
Neto is just the latest in a long line of players to be given an early bath. Robert Sanchez, Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella, Moises Caicedo, Liam Delap and Joao Pedro are the other eight names. Buy a Score Draw 1998 Chelsea home shirt at JD Sports here.
It must be said that the disciplinary problems preceded Rosenior and even Enzo Maresca. It is a young squad which has not really learned from its mistakes.
How bad are Chelsea at defending set pieces?
Rosenior’s team have the fourth-worst record in terms of conceding set-play goals. The two against Arsenal have taken their total to 14 in the Premier League this campaign.
Only West Ham (16), Bournemouth (16) and Liverpool (15) have conceded more, so it is definitely something that needs to be addressed.
Again, the team’s problems in this area do precede Rosenior, but things have definitely deteriorated recently. Some of it is down to individual mistakes. Andrey Santos marked the wrong man against Burnley, which led to their late equaliser.
In the Arsenal game, Reece James was left to mark two men at the back post for the first goal, while Robert Sanchez was caught in no man’s land for the second.
Read more about the Chelsea First Team Squad for 2025/26 here
