The Blues boss was full of praise for one player after their performance on Friday night
Liam Rosenior praised Mamadou Sarr after the defender made his first start for Chelsea in the 4-0 FA Cup victory over Hull, saying the young centre-back delivered exactly what he expected.
Chelsea brought Sarr back from his loan spell at Strasbourg earlier this month to strengthen their defensive options. The 20-year-old had impressed under Rosenior in Ligue 1 earlier in the season and arrived full of confidence after winning the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal.
Having previously made only a brief substitute appearance in the Club World Cup, Sarr completed the full 90 minutes at the MKM Stadium as Chelsea progressed to the fifth round thanks to Pedro Neto’s hat-trick and a goal from Estevao.
“Mamadou was everything that I expected,” Rosenior said. “I know Mamadou so well.
“I think the acclimatisation, adaptation process for him hopefully will be faster because he understands the way I want to play, and he already showed that today.”
Rosenior was keen not to single out individuals despite Sarr’s clean sheet, instead highlighting the overall display from his side.
“I just felt it was a really, really strong team performance and that’s what makes me so happy this evening,” he said, pointing to the energy across the team as well as the contribution from goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
Cole Palmer was absent from the squad despite scoring four goals across his previous two matches, with the Chelsea boss explaining the decision was part of careful workload management.
“Managing him,” Rosenior said. “Brilliant to see Reece back on the pitch. Brilliant for him to get those 60 minutes.
“I was planning on giving Enzo 45 minutes with Moi. I’m trying to manage their minutes. In the end, I felt it was right for Moi to stay on for 60.
“I’m delighted they’ve all come through unscathed and now, for the first time in a long time, they’ve got a full week to prepare for Burnley.”