Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea coaching staff confirmed as Enzo Maresca ally retains role

Chelsea news as the Blues confirm who will be on Liam Rosenior’s coaching staff after his arrival from Strasbourg following Enzo Maresca’s departure

Chelsea have confirmed Liam Rosenior’s backroom staff before his first match in charge of the club. The Blues are set to face Charlton in the FA Cup third round this weekend with interim head coach Calum McFarlane among those that will be on the touchline.

A club statement read: “Calum McFarlane has been promoted from Under-21s lead to the role of first-team coach, having overseen the first team prior to Rosenior’s arrival. Harry Hudson will now take charge of our Under-21s.

“Head of Global Goalkeeping, Ben Roberts, joins Rosenior’s staff as goalkeeper coach and Bernardo Cueva continues to lead the set-piece department.” Minus the latter, it will be an entirely new set of coaches with McFarlane earning a huge promotion.

Earlier in the day, football.london had reported that McFarlane would be staying on with the senior team which means he will depart his previous role at the under-21s.

McFarlane had revealed the conversations he had with Rosenior earlier in the week before admitting what he did with the players upon his arrival.

He said before the trip to Fulham: “Liam arrived an hour or so before training on Tuesday.

“We were having a team meeting to outline what training looked like and he came in beforehand and spoke to the players about how excited he is to be at the club, his values, what he wants to bring to the team and what the objectives are.

“He then stepped away, but knew the game plan from watching the meetings back. I spoke to him afterwards about what we were going after [against Fulham]. Because he came in so late, we had already done the prep, so he left it to us.

“Other than encouraging words and being really complimentary about the work we have done, [he didn’t say anything]. He gave us free rein to pick the team and decide the tactics.

“We are pretty aligned in how we think about football; if it were completely the other way, maybe it would have been different. But he has been really respectful and trusting and let us get on with this job before he starts with the group tomorrow.”

It looks as though he made quite the impression on the new Chelsea head coach as he personally asked him to become his assistant. Rosenior was particularly impressed by how the 37-year-old handled a challenging period in the wake of Enzo Maresca’s sacking, as football.london understands.

As the replacement for McFarlane, under-18s boss Harry Hudson is set to take charge of the U21s, as confirmed in the club’s announcement.

Following the trip to Valley Parade, Rosenior’s first game at Stamford Bridge will be a Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Arsenal.

Chelsea will then host Brentford in the Premier League and Pafos in the Champions over the following week before heading on their travels again for a short trip to Crystal Palace.