Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior has accused Arsenal of showing a lack of respect during the warm-up ahead of their Carabao Cup semi-final second leg.
The enraged Rosenior was caught Ski Sports cameras telling the Gunners: “It’s your half – it’s your ******* half. ******* stay there” before Chelsea lost 4-2 on aggregate at the Emirates.
Speaking about the incident on Thursday, Rosenior said: “It wasn’t the (Arsenal) players. With respect, when you warm up you have your half and the other team has theirs. I never asked my team or the coach to invade the opposition’s territory.
“At that point I didn’t think it was exactly where they were doing. They were affecting my guys and staff warming up. I asked them, maybe not politely, to make sure they stayed in their own half.”
“I’m not here to have mind games, that’s what I think is right and respectful and hopefully we’ll respect that, like other teams.”
“There are certain etiquettes in football. I always try to be as respectful as possible. I always want to win. I’ve never asked my coaches (to do that).
“I have no problem with anyone at Arsenal. They have a fantastic manager. Mikel (Arteta) is someone I respect so much.
“I just didn’t think it was disrespectful to my team at the time.”
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Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior had some standout moments before, during and after his side’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg defeat by Arsenal.
Kai Havertz scored in stoppage time to give Arsenal a 1-0 win on the night as Rosenior’s cautious tactical approach was criticized.
Asked if he was surprised by the reaction, Rosenior said: “No, the noise doesn’t surprise me at all. It comes with the territory of being Chelsea’s head coach. If I was surprised by it, then I wouldn’t be ready for the role.
“What people say outside the club, what they think about the way my teams play, doesn’t influence my decision-making or what I think is the right thing for the team.”
“Looking back, we didn’t go through anything, you can always change and improve certain things you do. But what I feel at the same time is that it was a very, very solid game against a team that is very, very good at home.”
“We turned things around in the second half and the game could have easily gone our way. Disappointed we didn’t go through, but now we move on and focus on Wolves.”