One rule for one, one rule for another? That’s the message coming out of Chelsea, as boss Liam Rosenior sends Enzo Fernandez to the stocks, while letting others run away scot-free.
What was the crime? Teasing a transfer? A succulent transfer rumour?
While Fernandez’s comments were less than ideal – the Argentine flirting with a move away from Chelsea – the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. It pales in comparison to the comments made by Manchester City’s Rodri over the international break, and he’ll almost certainly be picked by Pep Guardiola in the next two matches.
Regardless, they weren’t even the worst comments made by a Chelsea player while away with their national team. Fernandez could’ve followed in his team-mate Marc Cucurella’s footsteps, with the Spaniard tantamount to suggesting Rosenior wasn’t fit for purpose.
The left-back questioned the hierarchy’s decision to let Enzo Maresca leave the club, with Cucurella saying: « When a manager gives you that confidence and offers you a platform to fight for titles, you’d die for him.
« The moment Maresca left, it had a big impact on us. These are decisions taken by the club. If you asked me, I would not have made this decision. To make a change like that, the best thing is to wait until the end of the season.
« You would give everyone, the players and the new manager, time to get ready, have a full pre-season. The instability around the club comes from this, in a nutshell. We had a caretaker [former under-21s coach Calum McFarlane] first, then a new manager, with new ideas and no time to work on them. It is what it is. »
Whenever you hear Rosenior talk, he tries to give off the impression that he’s swimming with his head above the water. Instead, it’s increasingly clear the 41-year-old is drowning, arms wailing in the air, and scarily out of his depth.
If a Chelsea manager under Roman Abramovich had made the ‘respect the ball’ comments in the aftermath of a humiliating Premier League loss, they’d have been frog-marched out of Stamford Bridge and given their P45 on the spot.
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