Liam Rosenior launched into a spectacular rant against his won players on Tuesday evening – but he’s not the only manager to turn on their players
There’s something of an art to throwing your own players under the bus – one that Liam Rosenior still needs to master.
It marked the end of Ruben Amorim’s ill-fated stint at the helm of Manchester United, and Tuesday evening might just be the beginning of the end for the Chelsea manager as his hopeless Blues were, once again, outrun, outplayed and outperformed in a 3-0 defeat at Brighton that saw him accuse all but three or four of his team of “throwing in the towel”.
And with his spectacular rant after the full-time whistle, pulling no punches when talking about his faltering assortment of riches, Daily Star Sport has a look at other managers who threw their players under the bus – and what happened next.
Liam Rosenior
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“It was unacceptable in every aspect of the game, unacceptable in our attitude,” said Rosenior, still seething after the Blues’ heavy loss to the Seagulls – their fifth loss on the bounce in the Premier League. He let rip: “I keep coming out and defending the players – that’s indefensible, that performance tonight.
“The manner of the goals we conceded, the amount of duels that we lost, the lack of intensity in the team. Something needs to change drastically right now. I think the players need to have a look in the mirror for what they put in.
“You can talk about tactics… tactics come after the basics. Having more courage to play, winning duels, winning headers, tackles, conceding terrible goals. That was an unacceptable performance tonight.”
He added: “I can’t defend that performance. It doesn’t represent this football club, it doesn’t represent anything I ask from the group and that has to change. I feel numb I’m so angry. Something needs to change drastically right now. The professionalism wasn’t there.
“We need to look in the mirror. I need to look in the mirror. The general attitude, spirit, determination was lacking a part from maybe three or four of the 11. That is nowhere near enough for this club.
“Whether you’re playing at this elite football club or any football club, to even be accused of throwing the towel in is unacceptable. That’s all I’m going to say. I’m hurting.”
Rosenior hasn’t been in the job for long, but with Chelsea set to miss out on Champions League football next season, it could be close to the end for the Englishman.
Ruben Amorim
Ruben Amorim was supposed to be the man to lead Manchester United back to glory – along with the other five permanent managers after Sir Alex Ferguson walked into the sunset.
The Portuguese boss once claimed he’d rather give a place on the bench to his 63-year-old goalkeeping coach instead of Marcus Rashford because of a perceived lack of effort. And he even took pot shots at some of his academy talents who were out on loan.
“I think it’s the feeling of entitlement that we have in our club,” he said earlier this season…We talk about the players sometimes forget what it means to play for Man Utd, we as a club forget sometimes who we are. That’s the feeling that I have.”
Amorim survived a month longer, and he was eventually sacked after taking aim at the club’s hierarchy at the turn of the New Year.
Jose Mourinho
The second instalment in what we’ll call the Manchester United trilogy saw Jose Mourinho rattle through a list of players from bitter rivals Manchester City that he’d rather have in his squad.
The Red Devils had just been knocked out the Champions League by Sevilla when the Special One launched into the rant: “In the last seven years the worst position of Manchester City in the Premier League was fourth.
“In the last seven years Manchester City was champions twice and if you want to say three times, they were second twice. That’s heritage.
“Do you know what is also heritage? Is that Otamendi, Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Silva, Sterling, Aguero. They are investments from the past, not from the last two years.
“One day when I leave the next Manchester United manager will find here Lukaku, Matic, of course De Gea from many years ago, they will find players with a different mentality, quality, background, with a different status, know-how.”
Mourinho was sacked later in that calendar year.
Ralf Rangnick
There’s no dancing around the fact Ralf Rangnick was a complete disaster at the Red Devils – so much so that when his time as caretaker boss was up, he was meant to move into the boardroom. That, obviously, never happened.
He was right on one thing: United’s problems: “You don’t even need glasses to see the problems. Now it’s only about how you can solve them. Not minor cosmetic things. This is an open heart operation.
“If everyone realises this has to happen and works together, it doesn’t need to take years. It can happen within one year.”
That wasn’t the only time he hit the nuclear button too: “We can only apologise to the supporters. It was a terrible performance and a humiliating defeat.
“The game plan was completely different. We told the players to be as compact as possible and then to release pressure on them. We couldn’t stop them. I don’t think the players ignored the game plan but they weren’t able to stop them.”
Niko Kovač
A more recent example happened earlier this year, when Niko Kovac publicly slammed his Borussia Dortmund players: “We no longer have those players with that extra skills that some of you here might like to see.
“We don’t have them at the moment. As a manager, you always have to assess what you’ve got at your disposal. Then you can only play the way that’s possible.
“What we and the fans might be missing is perhaps a [Jadon] Sancho, a [Erling] Haaland, a [Ousmane] Dembélé or a [Marco] Reus. But no one can deny that the team is playing well and successfully.”
It might have been a sense of deja vu for Bayern Munich players – who experienced the same treatment at the Allianz Arena.
Renato Gaúcho
Footballers must sigh at the sight of Renato Gaucho when he walks through the door. Renato might not be too well-known to English audiences, but he’s borderline infamous in Brazil.
He created enemies at Gremio and has been up to his old tricks at Vasco da Gama. The incendiary boss didn’t hold back at his team’s “childish mistakes” after a recent clash and warned that players who do not perform will lose their place in the starting line-up.
Renato also claimed most of the goals his team conceded aren’t due to his opponents’ merits and more down to his own team’s mistakes: “They always make mistakes! This has to stop!”
Antonio Conte
The famously level-headed Antonio Conte was the latest coach to have a crack at the Tottenham job in 2023 – and later launched into a borderline unbelievable rant.
“Not only the club, the manager and the staff. The players have to be involved in this situation because it is time to change this situation if Tottenham want to change,” he said.
“If they want to continue in this way, they can change the manager, a lot of managers, but the situation cannot change. Believe me.
“Maybe previously in the other games something can change. But here we’re used to it for a long time.
“The club has the responsibility for the transfer market, every coach that stayed here has the responsibility. And the players? The players? Where are the players?
“In my experience, I can tell you that if you want to be competitive, if you want to fight, you have to improve this aspect. And this aspect, I can tell you, in this moment is really, really low. And I see only 11 players that play for themselves.”
Giovanni Trapattoni
Giovanni Trapattoni’s press conference on the afternoon of March 10, 1998, lasted only three and a half minutes – but almost three decades later, it’s well remembered.
Iconic boss Trap accused his Bayern Munich stars of being “weak like a bottle empty” and took great delight in repeating the name of Thomas Strunz.
The Italian word “stronzo” is very similar and loosely translates as “a***hole”. The Italian’s repetition may not have been a coincidence…