“One thing Enzo Maresca made them be is SOFT, these two players went behind my back to complain to the board that my style of play is too intense, I’m not here to babysit pampered millionaires. When I look at players, I look for warriors, not tourists. If they can’t handle hard work, they’ll find the door.” Chelsea interim Head Coach Calum McFarlane has it clear that these two players are leaving this January as their style of play doesn’t fit in his scheme

Calum McFarlane has provided insight into the extent of Liam Rosenior’s tactical contribution during Chelsea’s 2-1 loss to Fulham at Craven Cottage.

The newly appointed head coach observed proceedings from the stands, positioned alongside co-owner Behdad Eghbali and sporting director Paul Winstanley, as the Blues, reduced to ten men, suffered defeat on Wednesday evening in west London.

With Under-21s manager McFarlane serving in a temporary capacity for the second and final match before Rosenior formally begins his duties, an early dismissal for Marc Cucurella—shown a red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity—fundamentally altered the trajectory of the contest.

Liam Delap opened his Premier League account for Chelsea with his first goal for the club, but strikes from Raul Jimenez and Harry Wilson on either side of that breakthrough secured all three points for Fulham.

Rosenior, the former Hull City and Derby County boss who recently departed BlueCo’s sister club Strasbourg, will take his place in the technical area for the first time on Saturday evening when Chelsea travel to face Championship side Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup third round.

“Liam arrived yesterday [Tuesday], roughly an hour before we were scheduled to begin training,” McFarlane explained following the disappointing result against Fulham.

“We were conducting a team meeting to outline the structure and focus of the training session. He joined us just before that meeting commenced.

“He addressed the squad about his excitement at being appointed to the club, shared his core values and principles, explained what he hopes to bring to the team, and outlined his objectives moving forward. Following that, he took a step back and observed the training session unfold.

“I had a conversation with Liam after training concluded to discuss his assessment of the tactical game plan from the meetings, because he had reviewed footage of those meetings at a separate time.

“He watched us train, observed the entire session closely. I spoke with him afterwards regarding our approach and what we were targeting for today’s match. Because his arrival came so late in the process, we had already completed all our preparation work, so he entrusted us to continue with our plans.”

McFarlane went on to elaborate: “Apart from offering words of encouragement and being genuinely complimentary about the work we’ve carried out in preparation, he has given us complete freedom to select the starting lineup and determine the tactical approach for this match.

“We share quite similar philosophies when it comes to how we think about football anyway, so if our approaches were completely contradictory, perhaps the situation would have been handled differently. He’s demonstrated tremendous respect and trust by allowing us to complete this assignment before he officially begins working with the squad tomorrow.”