By Paul Green at Stamford Bridge
LIAM Rosenior refused to blame Wesley Fofana’s dismissal for Chelsea’s latest home calamity against struggling Burnley.
The Blues were clearly the better side before Fofana picked up a second yellow for a 72nd-minute challenge on Clarets substitute James Ward-Prowse.
However, they only had Joao Pedro’s fourth-minute opener to show for their dominance and were made to pay the price in stoppage-time when Ward-Prowse’s corner was headed home by former Millwall ace Zian Flemming.
Burnley almost snatched a last-gasp winner as Jacob Bruun Larsen blazed just over from another Ward-Prowse corner.
The 1-1 draw means Chelsea have now dropped seventeen points at the Bridge already and follows hot on the trails of letting a 2-0 advantage slip to Leeds United just over a week ago.
But despite the unwanted early exit for Fofana, the eighth Blues player to see red this season, the SW6 boss didn’t single out the French defender afterwards.
Rosenior said: “No, that wasn’t on Wesley, that was on our performance.
“From the first goal we lacked incision when we had control.
“I want incision, I want us to create wave after wave of attacks.
“We are too safe in our possession and when you give any team a one-goal advantage, anything can happen.
“The red card happens, you are down to ten men.”
He added: “We knew their biggest threat was Ward-Prowse on the pitch with set-plays.
“We went as big as we possibly could because that was the only way they could score with ten men. We still don’t see it out.
“I think the frustration is more [with] the last two home games.
“From being in winning positions and being in control of the game, to not win the two games – that’s the biggest frustration. It is not to blame any individual.”
Rosenior may only have been in the job for just over a month, but he admits his new charges are going to have to strengthen their mentality if they are to challenge for the Premier League crown in the seasons ahead.
He explained: “There are certain values that you need to have in your team.
“The best teams that win titles, which is where we want to get to, they win games 1-0 when they probably haven’t had the best performance.
“That should have been at least a 1-0 today. Even with ten men for 25 minutes, that should have been a 1-0 at the least.
“I know what we need to get there. It is not down to youth, it is down to assessing the players and assessing the ones you can rely on in the difficult moments.”
Fofana’s early bath may have been the first under the new manager’s watch even if the record before Rosenior’s appointment is less than impressive, something he isn’t reading anything into.
“Our discipline since I’ve come in, which is what again I will only speak on, has been very good,” Rosenior said.
“That was an unfortunate red card for Wes. He stepped in on a challenge.
“I felt that there was something that could have been dealt with better before that happened by the referee and went unnoticed, but we are going to get red cards.
“There is too many for sure but in my time with the group I think our disciplinary record has been very good up until now.”
Chelsea travel to Arsenal in the league this Sunday (4.30pm).
