Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior insisted he has good enough goalkeeping options following Filip Jørgensen‘s costly error during his side’s 5-2 Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
Jørgensen was playing only his second match since displacing Robert Sánchez, who was benched after a poor performance in the loss to Arsenal earlier in March, but a misplaced pass from the Dane in the 74th minute at the Parc des Princes allowed PSG to take a 3-2 lead.
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After that the European champions ripped into Chelsea, whose confidence appeared to drain after going behind for a third time on the night, undermining what had been a solid display to that point.
It has brought even greater scrutiny to bear on the club’s goalkeeping situation. There have been questions throughout his two and a half years at Stamford Bridge over whether Sánchez is good enough whilst Jørgensen has also struggled to convince.
West Ham were interested in signing Jørgensen in January but Chelsea were unwilling to be left without competition for Sánchez.
Rosenior’s decision to drop the Spaniard after the Emirates defeat came as a surprise, particularly since he has appeared this season to have eradicated some of the errors that marred his first two years.
Asked whether he felt he had goalkeepers of sufficient quality available for a club of Chelsea’s size, Rosenior said: “For sure. I made a decision to play Filip against Aston Villa [on March 4] and his performance was outstanding, he contributed to a very good win.
“His performance for 75 minutes [against PSG] was magnificent. He makes a mistake and we get punished, and we go on to lose in a manner we definitely shouldn’t have lost.
“Rob Sánchez is one of the best goalkeepers in the league. There’s no question about those two players’ quality.”
Rosenior now faces a huge decision over who plays in goal for Saturday’s home game against Newcastle.
Asked whether Jørgensen was mentally ready to start, he said: “For sure. Everybody makes mistakes. It’s how you recover and respond to a setback. I’ve got no issues, no lack of trust with the two goalkeepers I have.”
Jørgensen’s night in Paris got even worse when he received a furious dressing-down from vice-captain Enzo Fernández after another poor pass led to PSG scoring a disallowed goal.
“If you play football in front of 60,000 people, adrenaline is running through your system and you want to win, you’re passionate,” said Rosenior. “I want players to demand from each other, always with respect. Then we sit down, we talk about it and we work things through together in the dressing room.”
Pedro Neto has been given a one-match ban and fined £70,000 for failing to leave the pitch following his red card in the Arsenal defeat.
The winger was at the heart of controversy again in Paris when he pushed over a ball boy, an action for which he quickly apologised but which UEFA said they are investigating.
“I’ve seen it back and it doesn’t look good,” said Rosenior. “I understand his perspective, he wants to get the ball back in play. There are ways you go about it.
“He wanted to apologise straight away. We make mistakes but it’s about learning.”
PA contributed to this report.
