Liam Rosenior has just concluded his post-match press conference following Chelsea's enormous Champions League victory over Napoli.
The Blues came from behind in the second-half in Naples to secure a sixth-place finish and therefore a place in the knockout stages of Europe's elite competition. Here is every word Rosenior had to say in his post-match press conference:
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How important is it for you and Chelsea to win and avoid the playoff?
Yeah, firstly, I think to get through in this competition is the most important thing, so I'm delighted to do it. In this way, in terms of our season, in terms of my time on the pitch with the players, that's going to help us so much. I had no time. It's not an excuse, it's a fact. And I'm asking the players, and I'm so proud of them, even in the first half, I'm asking them to press in a completely different way that they've never done before and hardly had any practice at. So that time over the next few weeks will help us get better and improve, but we still need to win games in this moment.
Cole Palmer made a real impact. Was it a plan to have him make an impact or was it a fitness-related decision? Can you just talk us through that?
I think it's a combination of both. There was no way that Cole could have started this game and played through to 60, 70, 80 minutes, so I knew Napoli had had a difficult time with injuries. I felt that later in the game we would be stronger and I felt Cole's performance was magnificent. Not just his quality, his pressing, his running for the team. We need to look after him. He's had so many games over a long period of time. We need to look after him and I think the way that he's managed himself in the last two weeks has been magnificent and hopefully we can now see the best of him now that he's fully fit. We need to see him absolutely relish nights like this on a big occasion.
Is it a scary thought for you that he's able to produce something like tonight which he's not played that much?
Yes, scary good. I don't like to talk about individuals. I felt [it wasn't] just Cole [who played well] when he came on. I thought Jamie Gittens came on and I asked him to play a left wing-back role which he was magnificent. Ale Garnacho came on to help the team. Obviously, Joao Pedro is top. Actually, the tactical change, I thought Andrey Santos actually had a very good game but we needed to go for the win. When Enzo [Fernandez] moved back into the No.6 role, he started to really dominate and control the game with Moi [Caicedo]. Again, so many pleasing individual performances but I think the most pleasing aspect was the collective mentality of the group to have a positive reaction to a difficult first half.
Could you talk us through your set-up?
I wanted to go man-for-man all over the pitch. We knew we needed to win the game. I wanted to be really aggressive and Napoli were very clever after 20-25 minutes. I felt we won the ball back very high in good areas in the first 20 minutes. When they started to miss our pass out and went a little bit more direct, the distances were a little bit bigger. We corrected that. We were still man-to-man in the second half but we started a bit deeper with our press and I think that helped our composure.
Proving people wrong with five wins out of six?
Football is not about me. I give the credit to the players. I said when I came in they lost a manager that they really respected for reasons that are beyond my control or knowledge. So when you go through that as a young group to come back and to accept a new manager the way they have done and for them to work as hard as they have done for me is a credit to them. It's not about me or my ego or trying to prove anything. I'm trying to do the very best I can with my group, with my staff and hopefully we can have more and more really good nights like this.
When does that rate in your career as manager?
It's not bad. It's not about me. I'm here to win. That's my job. My job is to win games here as the manager of Chelsea Football Club so it's not about where does it rate in my career. I'm not really fussed. I'm already focused on West Ham on Saturday.
Raheem Sterling has left...
He's a magnificent guy. He's a magnificent player. There are a lot of positive things going on in the background that I really have nothing to do with. So I wish Raheem and his family all the very best in his future and I hope he has a really, really good rest of his career.
Joao Pedro is crucial for you now. Can he be starting No.9 for Brazil in the World Cup?
For sure. Carlo Ancelotti is one of my heroes so I don't want to tell him how to do his job. I think I've had very, very good conversations with him already, probably four in my office, I think he's sick of my office, where I've said to him, if you play with intensity, with your quality, the quality comes out. The two goals are fantastic but the way he held the ball up for the team, the way he sprinted and started that press, the harder you work the better you are as a player and I'm very, very happy to have Joao in our team.
For such a young squad, are experiences like tonight needed to accelerate the maturity of the team and also to make sure that your best players want to stay at the club?
Well, on your first question, that's what experience is. It's nights like this and it's also having setbacks and understanding why setbacks happen. I was told that's the first time we've won away in the Champions League for a long, long time as a football club. That's a great marker for the team and hopefully we can continue. I don't understand your second question, every player wants to be here, this is a massive club. So unless you know something I don't, I'm very, very happy with my group.
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