Liam Rosenior has quickly made his presence felt at Chelsea, with a noticeable shift in the mood around Stamford Bridge.
While Chelsea have not quite hit top gear yet, you can see what Rosenior is trying to put together.
The players have responded well, too. Even without much playing time, Liam Delap has spoken positively about the direction things are heading under Rosenior.
His approach is quite different from Enzo Maresca’s. Things had become a bit stale under Maresca, and there were complaints about how rigid the style had become.
But there is still plenty of work ahead for Rosenior to get things moving forward.
Liam Rosenior and Joao Pedro are building a strong relationship
For any new manager, it is important to get key players on board, and that is something Rosenior seems to be working on with Joao Pedro.
We tend to notice the smiles in training and the celebrations after goals like his brace against Napoli, but there is plenty going on away from the cameras.
Speaking before the West Ham match (Sky Sports Premier League), Rosenior explained a bit more about how he and Pedro have been connecting.
He said: “At the moment, everyone will speak about Joao because his performances in the last two games have been superb, like Crystal Palace, he was top. Obviously, his performance in Naples was incredible. So people will speak about him. Not just me, my staff, we put a lot of time into getting to know the players and what makes them tick and what each player needs.
“I think me and Joao have had some interesting conversations so far, a bit of friction at times, which you need, and a little bit of love at the same time as well.
“I need that. I need them to tell me the truth.”
Liam Rosenior’s approach at Chelsea is similar to Jose Mourinho’s
Jose Mourinho was known for taking a hard line with players and always keeping a firm presence.
He once tore up Glen Johnson’s loan deal in front of him and had no problem leaving out big names like Juan Mata and Kevin de Bruyne when he felt they were not hitting the required standards.
Rosenior has adopted a similar approach at Chelsea.
“Everything I do, I don’t mind. I’ve said to the players, I don’t mind you knocking my door down, asking me why am I not in the team? Why did you take me off? I want to have real conversations,” he said.
“It’s not always being best friends, you know, you have to have a degree of vulnerability and power within that as well and strength. And Joao’s shown that in his performances and that’s down to him, as my job is to try and keep him at that level.”
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