‘Just stop it!’ – Gary Neville orders Chelsea to scrap ‘ridiculous’ tactic | Football

Gary Neville has urged Liam Rosenior to instruct his Chelsea players to abandon their ‘ridiculous’ pre-match huddles.

The sight of the Chelsea team huddling over the ball before kick-off and the start of the second-half has become a regular occurrence since Rosenior’s arrival in January.

But Saturday’s pre-match huddle led to ludicrous scenes as the Chelsea players surrounded referee Paul Tierney, who was standing over the ball waiting for kick-off.

Rosenior criticised Tierney for intervening in Chelsea’s pre-match routine but both the Blues boss and his team have been widely mocked for the tactic.

Manchester United and England legend Neville believes Chelsea’s ‘ridiculous gimmick’ is an attempt to ‘con’ fans and says Rosenior should ‘nip it in the bud’ going forward.

‘I thought it was extremely odd, really weird,’ Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast. ‘I’ve never been a fan of huddles.

‘If you’ve prepared for seven months of a season, four days before the game and then you need a huddle 10 seconds before kick-off to talk and motivate each other, you’ve done something wrong in your preparation.

‘No words can help you, in my opinion. I never did a huddle here [at Manchester United] in 20 years. No words should be able to help you a few seconds before a football match.

‘You’ve done all your preparations. You’ve analysed the player you are playing against. You know how to create opportunities if you’re an attacking player.

‘You’re in the changing room 10 minutes before you go out and you’ve said everything. What more can be said in a huddle out on the pitch?

‘It’s just for show. Absolutely it’s just for show. It’s almost cultish. It’s to show fans we’re together but the fans won’t be conned by that. They will judge you on your performance.

‘It won’t intimidate a good team. It didn’t intimidate Newcastle. It’s weird to do it in the centre of the pitch.

‘It’s like “what’s the most gimmicky thing we can do to make people believe we have team spirit?” It’s not conning anybody.

‘I think it’s a nonsense. The whole thing is a nonsense. Stop doing it. I don’t get it at all, it really frustrates me.

‘I can’t think of anything more ridiculous, I would stop it straightaway, nip it in the bud. I don’t get it, I don’t get it at all.’

Chelsea enjoyed a promising start to Rosenior’s reign but results have started to drop off over the past month.

The Blues were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Arsenal and have won just one of their last five league games, slipping to sixth in the Premier League table.

Chelsea also have a mountain to climb in the Champions League after suffering a 5-2 defeat to PSG in the first leg of their last-16 tie.

Champions League holders PSG travel to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night hoping to book their place in the quarter-finals.

The winner of that tie will face reigning Premier League champions Liverpool or Turkish leaders Galatasaray in the next round of the Champions League.

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