Liam Rosenior insists Chelsea star is “not out” of his “plans” despite Newcastle omission
· Yahoo Sports
Liam Rosenior has revealed he left Josh Acheampong out of the squad for the defeat to Newcastle as he believes the teenager lacked the physicality required.
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Chelsea failed to respond to the defeat against PSG as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat against the Magpies in one of their worst displays of the season.
Anthony Gordon scored the only goal of the game as Chelsea were handed a serious blow in their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.
Liam Rosenior explains Josh Acheampong omission
Rosenior made two changes to the side which lost in Paris, with Alejandro Garnacho and Robert Sanchez both handed starts.
Filip Jorgensen was left out of the squad due to a groin issue, whilst despite there being three centre backs on he bench, Acheampong was also omitted.
Chelsea have insisted they trust Acheampong, and reportedly turned down big money for him in January, but he hasn’t played a single minute in the last three league games, and only played one minute against Burnley.
Rosenior was asked about his absence, and explained he didn’t feel the youngster had the physicality needed to deal with Newcastle.
“Josh, for me, that’s just a decision I made in terms of the bench, what we needed for a really physical, dominant Newcastle team when it comes to set plays,” he told his post match press conference.
“Having Benoit [Badiashile], Mamadou [Sarr] and Tosin [Adarabioyo] to deal with that, I felt was a better way to go.
“Josh is not out of my plans at all and he comes back into my thinking for Tuesday.”
Chelsea need to overhaul centre back department
Chelsea have struggled defensively, but look more open then they’ve done in a long time since Rosenior arrived.
The Blues have kept three clean sheets in their last 14 games, and the centre backs they’ve got simply aren’t good enough.
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Levi Cowlill has been a big miss, but Wesley Fofana just hasn’t been at the level required, whilst Trevoh Chalobah has made a number of mistakes.
It’ll be interesting to see who Chelsea look to bring in, but they desperately need a top level player who’s ready to come in and start.
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