LONDON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Incoming Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior was given some quick lessons in what he needs to do at Stamford Bridge as he watched his new players lose 2-1 at Fulham on Wednesday, with fixing their terrible discipline record at the top of his to-do list.
Television cameras cut to Rosenior sitting high in the stands, looking stony-faced as defender Marc Cucurella trudged off the pitch following a red card for a foul on Harry Wilson, with only a quarter of the game played.
The dismissal took Chelsea's total number of red cards in the league so far this season to five, more than double any other team and a big factor in their struggle to live up to the hype following their Club World Cup victory in the summer.
They have now won only once in nine league games and sit seventh in the Premier League table.
Fulham made their numerical advantage count with Raul Jimenez scoring with a bullet header in the 55th minute and Wilson settling the match in the 81st after Liam Delap had raised Chelsea's hopes with his first league goal for the Blues.
Chelsea interim coach Calum McFarlane - who stepped up from running the club's under-21 side following the departure of Enzo Maresca on January 1 and oversaw a 1-1 draw at Manchester City on Sunday - said the sending off was the game's turning point.
"Any red card affects the game massively," McFarlane told reporters. "Really disappointed because we were starting to get into our rhythm so it came at a really bad time for us."
He also said he was concerned by the three yellow cards given to Chelsea players for protesting about Cucurella's sending off. "Three yellow cards after is something we need to look at," said McFarlane who himself was booked later in the game for arguing with the referee.
The Chelsea fans packed into one end of Craven Cottage made it clear that they saw bigger problems, turning their ire on one of the co-owners Behdad Eghbali who was watching the match alongside Rosenior, and the club's controlling Clearlake Capital consortium which the U.S. billionaire co-founded.
Rosenior this week became the fourth permanent appointment as Chelsea coach since the group of investors bought the club in 2022 when Britain's government forced Russian owner Roman Abramovich to sell due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The 41-year-old, who joined Chelsea from sister club Racing Strasbourg in France, will take charge of his first game on Saturday when Chelsea travel to Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup.
Then comes a League Cup semi-final first leg at home against London rivals Arsenal on Wednesday next week.
(Writing by William SchombergEditing by Toby Davis)
