One of Rosenior’s errors has been to create an unnecessary issue over his goalkeepers by dropping Robert Sánchez for the Champions League last-16, first-leg tie against Paris St-Germain before having to reinstate him after Filip Jorgensen made a costly error and then suffered an injury.
That has caused instability in a key position and has appeared to impact Sánchez, who was at fault for at least one of the Everton goals in Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat last weekend.
Chelsea believe that 41-year-old Rosenior is open to feedback and constructive criticism, and are confident that he can quickly learn from mistakes.
Rosenior has been in charge of Chelsea for 17 games and the internal view at the club is that he can be fairly judged only over a period of 65 to 70 games.
Chelsea did not choose Rosenior, who signed a contract until 2032, from sister club Strasbourg as a three- or four-month appointment and were understanding of the fact that he needs time.
Four successive defeats, during which the team have conceded 12 goals, have prompted scrutiny of Rosenior and Chelsea’s recruitment, and there is acknowledgement that mistakes have been made.
But Chelsea believe the main reason for their stop-start season has been the unplanned mid-season change of coach which the club were forced into when Enzo Maresca, the former head coach, effectively quit.
Despite a run of one win in their last six Premier League games, Chelsea still have a better points-per-game average (1.7) than they did under Maresca (1.6) this season.
There remains plenty to play for this season, with Chelsea looking forward to an FA Cup quarter-final against League One club Port Vale and are still just a point behind fifth-placed Liverpool, with fifth likely to clinch Champions League qualification.
Chelsea may need to win as many as five of their seven remaining league games to qualify for the Champions League, although if they and Liverpool average the same number of points per game as they have over the last 10 matches then Chelsea will narrowly take fifth place ahead of Arne Slot’s side.
One of Rosenior’s first messages to the squad he inherited was that they must react better to set-backs. There was an initial reaction to that message as Chelsea fought back from going behind against Napoli and West Ham United. But Chelsea did not recover from their 15-minute meltdown in Paris and the club hope that the international break will give Rosenior, his staff and players a chance to regroup before they restart their season against Port Vale.