Liam Rosenior insists he is not a scapegoat ahead of Charlton opener

Liam Rosenior says he’s not ‘afraid’ of the challenge ahead of him Chelsea and insists he will be his own man.

Rosenior’s appointment as head coach was confirmed on Tuesday and he succeeds Enzo Maresca in the hot seat.

Maresca was sacked after a breakdown in relations with the club’s board and continues a modern trend of sacking coaches after getting on the wrong side of senior club officials.

Having been recruited from Strasbourg, a club also owned by BlueCo, there were fears Rosenior could be a scapegoat for Chelsea’s sporting management team, but the 41-year-old insisted he would do things his way.

He said: “I don’t think it’s possible to be in this position and not be your own man. I understand, I’m not an alien and I know what’s being said in the press, but you can’t be a manager if you don’t make the decisions yourself.

“We had huge success in Strasbourg and I intend to work in the same way here.”

Rosenior, Chelsea boss – the pressure is there from day one

The former Hull boss will be under immediate pressure to deliver results, starting tomorrow evening when Chelsea travel to Charlton in the third round of the FA Cup.

He added: “I think [general] manager turnover is now enormous. The pressure is there from day one and if I wasn’t willing to accept that pressure and that privilege, I wouldn’t be here.

“I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait until tomorrow night. The players and staff have been supportive and made me feel at home.

“If you’re scared or afraid, there’s no point in being a coach. I’m going to work 24 hours a day. I’m going to push them to try to succeed.”

“To win, you don’t have to be nice all the time”

Caretaker manager Calum McFarlane led the team through Wednesday night’s 2-1 defeat at Fulham, a result influenced by Marc Cucurella’s first-half sending off, Chelsea’s fifth red card this season. The recoil saw Chelsea slip to eighth place in the Premier League table.

Asked if discipline was a problem, Rosenior said: “It’s one of the few things we can improve. I know how we do it. I’ve spoken to the players about handling setbacks.

“They show passion and emotion for the jersey. It’s about making sure that in key moments we react positively to setbacks, but I think mistakes come from passion and I don’t want to take that away from them.

“To win you don’t have to be nice all the time, you have to have an edge and I don’t want to take that away from the guys.”