Liam Rosenior reaction: Chelsea manager fumes at handball call, talks Cucurella injury after Leeds draw

The Liam Rosenior reaction after his Chelsea side blew a 2-0 lead at home to Leeds on Tuesday was intriguing as the young manager saw his team succumb to familiar failings.

But he was not happy with the officials.

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Defensive mistakes impacted Chelsea late on, as Rosenior’s run of consecutive Premier League wins at the start of his reign as Chelsea boss ended at four.

Reflecting on the disappointed draw, Liam Rosenior could not hide his disappointment about his side not managing the game properly and hit out at the officials at Stamford Bridge as he thought Leeds’ equalizer should have been ruled out for handball.

Liam Rosenior reaction

On how frustrated he was with the second half: “Six minutes. Six minutes of switching off. We were in complete control of the game. I don’t want to talk about the football. If we want to improve and get to where I think we can be, we have to just make sure we are switched on for 90 minutes. It is as simple as that. Devastated because some of the football we played was excellent and we should come away with three points. And now we haven’t because of two moments in the game we haven’t taken care of and we give Leeds a point, we gift them a point,” Rosenior told TNT Sports in the UK.

On any complaints on the penalty given against Caicedo: “Genuinely haven’t seen it back. I don’t know if we need to make the challenge in that moment. Moi [Caicedo] has been outstanding in my time but even at 2-1 we just need to take the sting out of the game, keep possession of the ball. Whether we think it’s handball or not in that moment, we’re still in control of the situation, we kick the ball away and then you ask for handball after. These are small moments that have cost us the three points today that we need to eliminate from our game.”

On if he thought it was handball on Leeds’ equalizer: “At the time I did. I still haven’t seen it. People are still questioning whether it is or isn’t. The rule is that if there is any contact with his hand it should be disallowed. But I haven’t see it back to make that judgement.”

On being told it was a non-deliberate handball: “The rule is the rule. From my understanding if there is any handball in the lead up to the goal it should be disallowed. If they have said that, then someone explain the rules to me. Because they need to help the referee. You [the reporter] saying that has just got me angrier because that is unacceptable if they’ve come with that judgement.”

On regrouping and almost winning it late on through Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer: “The energy of the team has been excellent since I’ve been here. The fitness, the quality of our play. We shouldn’t be in that situation. It is a great piece of play again. 99 times out of 100 Cole scores that but we shouldn’t be in that situation. They are the things I need to eliminate for us to get to the potential that I think this team is capable of, which is very, very high.”

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