*Fulham’s Wilson Piles Pain On 10-man Chelsea As Rosenior Watches On
Few things in life can be more awkward than sitting next to your new boss while 3,000 malcontents bellow abuse at him. On the bright side, at least this was a crash course in the modern Chelsea for Liam Rosenior.
The new head coach saw poor defending undermine flashes of defiance, witnessed his erratic side collect their eighth red card of the season, and heard the away end at Craven Cottage spend much of the second half aim mutinous chants in the direction of Behdad Eghbali, the club’s co-controlling owner.
This was such an unserious effort from Chelsea. Calum McFarlane, the under-21s coach, was in charge. It was hard not to feel that Rosenior had made his first misstep. He has had a dizzying few days since leaving Strasbourg but it is worth thinking back to Thomas Tuchel taking over from Frank Lampard five years ago. Tuchel came up with a new system on his journey to London, had one training session before his first game and led Chelsea to Champions League glory four months later.
Different times. Rosenior preferred to watch from the directors’ box and at least had a good view of the shambles unfold. Chelsea were down to 10 men after Marc Cucurella brought down Harry Wilson when the Fulham winger was through on goal. The red mist descended, three players picking up bookings for dissent, and there was no containing the discontent from the travelling fans after Raúl Jiménez put Fulham ahead early in the second half.
Supporters are not convinced by the project overseen by Eghbali and his fellow investors. Tension has grown since Enzo Maresca’s messy departure and it will not be easy for Rosenior to mend the damage. It begins for him with a trip to Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup on Saturday but the 41-year-old inherits a wounded team. Chelsea are down in eighth place after one win from their past nine league games and even find themselves level on points with Fulham, who made light of a lengthy list of absentees by earning a precious win thanks to a moment of impudence from Wilson in the 81st minute.
Fulham were more streetwise. They have gambled on players who have been written off by other clubs. They are proof that experience matters. Jiménez, 34, has three goals in his past five games and is testament to Marco Silva’s ability to keep pushing this experienced group.
This is a chance for Fulham. They are three points off the top four, although they will need to invest this month if they want to mount a push for European football. “It is nine years since my first game in this country,” Silva said. “I don’t remember many seasons like this, where the league is so tight. That shows the demands.”
There is no hiding place at this level. Taking charge for the second and final time, McFarlane stuck to club policy and rotated heavily. Chelsea started well and should have led when Andrey Santos headed a corner against the bar.
Santos did not make it to half‑time. The midfielder had to make way for Jorrel Hato after Cucurella’s dismissal. It came when Chelsea failed to reset after a corner. Bernd Leno, the Fulham goalkeeper, hit the ball long and Wilson sped through on goal before tangling Cucurella, whose foul on the edge of the area was a clear denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
McFarlane denied that the incident was evidence of a discipline problem. He will head back to the under-21s. They also played but it was uncomfortable when McFarlane asked for their result: it finished 6-2 to Benfica in the Premier League International Cup.
Rosenior needs to give Chelsea direction. They escaped when Wilson had a goal disallowed for offside but they trailed in the 55th minute. Fulham had shifted from a back five, Kevin replacing Jorge Cuenca at half‑time, and they were ahead when Sander Berge crossed for Jiménez to head past Robert Sánchez after escaping Trevoh Chalobah.
There was a response from Chelsea, who levelled when Antonee Robinson headed Pedro Neto’s corner against his own bar and Liam Delap converted the rebound. Yet it did not quell the mutiny. The chants towards Eghbali were constant and there was a banner calling for BlueCo, the consortium that owns Strasbourg and Chelsea, to sell up.
It meant Eghbali was pumped when Delap scored. Fulham were undeterred. Silva regained the initiative with positive substitutions and the game was settled when Wilson danced round Hato before squeezing in his seventh goal of the season.
Darren Fletcher’s Manchester United Held By Burnley Despite Sesko Double
Darren Fletcher failed to produce what Manchester United’s interim manager, fans and chief executive craved: a cathartic victory to move the club on quickly from the recent turbulence.
The big plus was Benjamin Sesko, whose two goals doubled his season tally. He said: “It’s been tough but now I finally did it. Now it’s just up to me and up to us to keep going like that.”
When Ayden Heaven turned into his own goal, Burnley were headed for a first win since 26 October. But Sesko stepped up to show whoever replaces Fletcher, who confirmed he will be in charge for the FA Cup tie with Brighton on Sunday, as the temporary man until the season ends, he may be about to catch fire – before Jaidon Anthony scored a memorable Burnley equaliser.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær is the slight favourite, ahead of Michael Carrick, and the sight of Shea Lacey hitting the bar should cheer whoever next takes the caretaker role, as will Kobbie Mainoo, another United starlet, entering as a late replacement.
After the dour Ruben Amorim era the joke was whether Fletcher would belie a 25-year association with United by sending out the same dour three-man defence. He did not, of course – his configuration a 4‑2‑3‑1 that had the returning Bruno Fernandes as the 10 behind Sesko.
The captain was the sole change – for Leny Yoro – from Amorim’s last game, the 1-1 draw at Leeds on Sunday, and after neat footwork in the buildup Fernandes saw Casemiro balloon over a first effort of Fletcher’s tenure.
The Scot was assisted by his former United teammate Jonny Evans, who was regaled by the travelling support with his song that tells of the Northern Irishman’s “hate” for “scousers”. Thirteen minutes in and they were not keen at all on their team as Burnley scored via Heaven.
Bashir Humphreys ran into space down the left and pinged the ball in, the centre-back stuck a leg out, and it ricocheted over Senne Lammens. Instantly, the camera panned left to an expressionless Fletcher, then to Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox, the chief executive and director of football who sacked Amorim on Monday.
This was the first time Scott Parker’s men led since a 3-2 defeat at West Ham on 8 November. Why? Because United lacked imagination. Rare forays ended with Casemiro chipping into the Clarets’ area to no one, or Fernandes berating the stationary Sesko to dart in.
Then, craft from United. Fernandes lifted a free-kick into the area, Casemiro headed across goal, and Matheus Cunha drew a Martin Dubravka save that went for a corner. From Luke Shaw’s delivery Lisandro Martínez bundled home but the centre-back was adjudged to have fouled Kyle Walker so the referee, Stuart Attwell, chalked it off.
United were jittery, Burnley scented blood. Marcus Edwards ran through midfield and found Lucas Pires along the left and his shot evaded Lammens, barely missing the left corner.
At this juncture, there was zero new manager bounce. Instead Fletcher, garbed in a dark blue winter coat, oversaw a passive side who needed to awaken. When Fernandes slipped Patrick Dorgu in the wide left forward lobbed Dubravka before Maxime Estève cleared off the line – better from United ahead of them wandering off for the interval.
Fletcher followed David Moyes, Ryan Giggs, Louis van Gaal, José Mourinho, Solskjær (interim and permanent), Michael Carrick, Ralf Rangnick, Erik ten Hag, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Amorim as the 13th appointment to the United hot seat since Sir Alex Ferguson left.
Yet he now had only 45 minutes to turn the game around. At the start of this a progressive sequence began by Martínez that moved United from defence to attack and ended in a Dorgu attempt. The next move was lethal, as it featured Heaven and Casemiro and had Fernandes slipping in Sesko: the 22-year-old has struggled since joining in the summer, but a right-foot blast past Dubravka was emphatic.
This had Fletcher joyous and urging his team for more. There was. At a Hannibal Mejbri corner United broke, the ball went left, and Sesko was again fed. This time a corner was claimed, which came to nothing, but soon Fernandes was hitting a post, his team discovering its rhythm.
And, too, a surfeit of chances. Heaven, left free at Fernandes’s corner, headed wide before Sesko struck again, following Dorgu’s run and cross from the left, with a predatory, sweetly timed low volley.
Sesko’s grin dazzled as much as Fletcher’s, United’s faithful gleeful behind the goal where the Slovenian scored. Yet the emotion became Burnley’s when Anthony, on as a substitute, turned away from Shaw and Martínez and beat Lammens with an 18-yard peach that flew in high.
At point‑blank range Sesko fluffed a golden chance to snatch the winner and a hat-trick, before Lacey went close, the end result feeling fair on each team.
*PHOTO CAPTION: What kind of players are these? Rosenior (in glasses) seems to be asking Chelsea co-owner, Behdad Eghbali.
