Steve Nicol has warned Liam Rosenior that he faces two key ‘problems’ when he becomes Chelsea’s new head coach to replace Enzo Maresca.
Chelsea are currently finalising the appointment of Rosenior, according to The Telegraph, after it was announced on Thursday that Maresca was stepping down from his role following tensions with the club’s owners.
Rosenior, 41, is currently head coach at Ligue 1 side Strasbourg – who like Chelsea are owned by BlueCo – but he now looks set for a big promotion.
Ahead of Rosenior’s expected arrival at Stamford Bridge, former Liverpool star Nicol has told the Englishman that he faces two ‘problems’ – he must do whatever the owners say – and that he will be under a lot more pressure.
‘There’s a problem – You’re going to have to do as you’re told,’ Nicol, who works as a football pundit, said on ESPN.
‘Liam Rosenior will have to do as he’s told. It’s pretty clear that’s why Enzo Maresca is not there.
‘If there is one thing that you must be in charge of as the [head] coach or the manager, whatever you want to call it, it is when it comes down to the football.
‘Who’s playing, who’s not playing, who comes on and who comes off. You have to be in charge of that.
‘All the other stuff you can accept but it absolutely looks like that’s the problem Maresca had.
‘Any coach with any real self-respect, if he’s not able to do those things, then I’m sorry. No.
‘[It’s a good appointment] for the Chelsea hierarchy because he’s young and they can tell him what to do.
‘I don’t know [if he will improve Chelsea] but he’s going to be told what to and that’s a horrible place to start.
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‘Any manager who walks into a job knowing that there will be times when he can’t pick and choose who is playing and who’s not, that is a non-starter for anybody with self-respect.
‘[Another] problem he’s going to have is pressure. Maresca, when he lost a couple of games, was under pressure.
‘That’s the difference between managing Strasbourg and managing Chelsea. Your job is to win. That’s a different ball game.’
Under Rosenior’s management, Strasbourg finished seventh last season to qualify for Europe for the first time in six years before embarking on a fine start to the 2025-26 campaign.
Strasbourg topped the league phase of the Conference League as one of only two unbeaten teams, while they won six of their first 10 Ligue 1 games this term.
Rosenior is now expected to instantly take the reins for Chelsea’s Premier League game at Fulham on Wednesday.