It was a crash course in the modern Chelsea for Liam Rosenior. The new head coach saw rash decisions undermine flashes of promise and heard rumblings of discontent. Few supporters are convinced by the club’s direction and the cracks were evident when the travelling supporters aimed mutinous chants at the Chelsea hierarchy as they watched their erratic side fall to a chaotic 2-1 defeat at Fulham.
Steering this project back on course will not be easy for Rosenior. Perhaps he will reflect that he has already made his first misstep since leaving Strasbourg. He elected not to sit in the away dugout, leaving Calum McFarlane in interim charge after the draw with Manchester City, and the result was Chelsea producing a directionless performance in which they lost Marc Cucurella to an early red card before losing to a late goal from Harry Wilson.
Watching from the directors’ box gave Rosenior a good view of his new side’s strengths and weaknesses. The former Fulham right-back sat next to Behdad Eghbali, the club’s co-controlling owner, after a dizzying few days and it is easy to imagine conversations during the first half quickly turning to Chelsea’s chronic lack of discipline.
Chelsea started well. Taking charge for the second and final time, McFarlane stuck to club policy and rotated heavily. Andrey Santos was a notable inclusion in midfield and there was an opportunity for Liam Delap to build on a bright cameo against City in attack.
Some of the football was bright and purposeful from the visitors. Fulham sat in a deep back five, just as they had during their draw with Liverpool, and were fortunate not to fall behind in the 18th minute. Santos somehow headed a corner against the bar and only a fine save from Bernd Leno prevented Moisés Caicedo from scoring the rebound.
Yet frailties lingered at the other end. Fulham’s wily bunch of cast-offs set their stall out with some meaty challenges, testing Chelsea’s temperament. Sander Berge was combative in midfield, Wilson twice tested Robert Sánchez’s reflexes and the mood changed when Chelsea failed to reset after their own corner. A simple punt from Leno sent Wilson through on goal and the Fulham winger outpaced Cucurella, whose unseemly tangle with the Welshman on the edge of the area was impossible to interpret as anything other than the denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
Chelsea raged at their eighth red card in all competitions this season, Enzo Fernández, Cole Palmer and Tosin Adarabioyo earning yellows for dissent, but they had to refocus. Jorrel Hato moved to left-back after replacing Santos and Fulham took a while to adapt to Chelsea’s low block. Short of ideas, they were restricted to Emile Smith Rowe shooting over from 20 yards and Wilson seeing a goal disallowed when a minuscule offside call went against Jiménez.
Perhaps it helped that Chelsea have had plenty of practice playing with 10 men. Seeking more options in attack, Silva removed Jorge Cuenca, put Kevin on the left wing and moved to a back four. He wanted Fulham playing with more urgency. They pressed Chelsea and the breakthrough came when a turnover led to Berge crossing for Jiménez, who darted in front of Trevoh Chalobah to direct a superb header beyond Sánchez.
Fulham pushed for more, Kevin flashing a shot just wide, Wilson almost bursting through. In the away end, meanwhile, dissatisfaction was rising. Eghbali was subjected to abusive chants and there was a banner calling for BlueCo, the consortium that owns Strasbourg and Chelsea, to sell up.
With only a goal in it, though, there was still hope for Chelsea and they should have equalised when Palmer dummied Adarabioyo’s pass through to Delap, who failed to lift his shot over Leno.
Chelsea stirred. Palmer, mostly quiet, twisted past Antonee Robinson and drew a save from Leno. McFarlane made a subtle alteration, the introduction of Reece James for Fernández seeing Malo Gusto move into midfield, and the change unsettled Fulham.
The pressure grew and the equaliser arrived with 18 minutes left. Pedro Neto delivered a corner from the right, Robinson glanced the ball against the bar and Delap reacted quickest to turn the rebound into the net.
It was not enough to quell the mutiny. On the pitch, Chelsea retreated. Fulham found a second wind and led again when Wilson fastened on to a loose ball after seeing Sánchez deny Smith Rowe. He dodged past Hato, squeezed a low finish past Sánchez for his seventh goal of the season and lifted Fulham level on points with Chelsea.
