Liam Rosenior has called off-form Alejandro Garnacho an “outstanding player” and backed him to have a “really good second half of the season”.
The home crowd at Stamford Bridge made their feelings known towards Garnacho in the first half of Chelsea’s 3-2 win over West Ham last weekend, in which he lost the ball more than ten times before being substituted at half-time.
The Argentine then played only 15 minutes as a substitute in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg defeat at Arsenal.
The former Manchester United winger has found it difficult to build a bond with Chelsea fans so far since his summer move to Stamford Bridge, but Rosenior insists Garnacho is playing positively and affecting games when he is playing.
“I think Alej would be the first to say that maybe his performance wasn’t to his level in that [West Ham] game, but there were many collective things,” Rosenior said.
“My performance in the first half wasn’t good enough. So it’s down to the reaction of the crowd. It’s down to your own individual and collective performance.
“That’s gone now, that’s finished. I know Garna is an outstanding player, that’s why he’s here and I know he’s got many, many good times to come.”
It was then put to Rosenior in his press conference that Garnacho appeared shot of confidence as the first half against West Ham wore on, with the winger making individual errors and appearing to allow the crowd to get on his back.
“I saw Garna take the game forwards, I saw him reach really, really good positions where, by the way, he’s one-v-one against one of the best one-v-one defenders in world football [Aaron Wan-Bissaka].
“We were playing against a good team. He [Garnacho] creates a threat in terms of his movement. I’ve got full backing of him and I will always protect my players and I think he just needs to get some games and some rhythm, which is difficult at the moment because of the amount of changes we’re making.
“I back him to have a really good second half of the season.”
