Liam Rogniol demanded improved discipline from his Chelsea players on Monday and threatened to drop those who did not show better control after Pedro Neto became the ninth Chelsea player to be sent off this season.
Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Premier League leaders Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium means Chelsea have won just two of their past six games.
advertise
Ahead of Wednesday’s game against fourth-placed Aston Villa, they sit sixth in the Premier League table and three points behind Liverpool in the race for next season’s Champions League.
Poor discipline has cost Chelsea dearly this season, with Neto becoming the seventh Stamford Bridge player to be shown a red card in the Premier League.
Chelsea boss Ronnie Orr, who replaced Enzo Maresca in January, said Neto had apologized to his teammates after being taken off in the 70th minute.
“My job is to create a culture of accountability where if you make a mistake, it’s OK, you put your hand up and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” the England manager said.
advertise
“But you have to own up to the initial mistake. If I picked the wrong team, or did something wrong, my job is to take responsibility, and that’s the same for my players in that moment.”
Ronaldo said Portugal winger Pedro will miss this week’s game at Villa Park and he has apologized to his teammates.
“I just need to see behavior improve now,” he said.
“It’s not just Pedro. We received yellow cards. People talk about dissent. We received unnecessary yellow cards for fouls. If we want to progress and get where we want to go, we have to take conscious steps now to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
advertise
The Chelsea boss says there are different ways to solve the problem.
“Sometimes it’s not a stick but it shows the value of not having a red card,” he said. “If you look at our statistics, our chances of winning are at their peak when we have 11 players on the field, both before and after I’ve been here.
“So that in itself needs to be motivation to make sure we stay disciplined in key moments and respond to setbacks. Sometimes setbacks are giving the ball away, sometimes setbacks are referees making decisions that you don’t agree with.
“In that moment, you have to react positively, you have to think about the next step. Those are the things we have to pursue in order to improve our discipline.”
advertise
Roniol added: “You want to pick players who show improvement. I can’t afford to get a red card every two or every three games in a season, it’s not possible.”
“So I need to see improvements in that and I need to adjust my team selections based on who is showing those abilities.”
jw/DMC
