When Jose Mourinho was sacked last Thursday by the management of Chelsea, there were widespread insinuations that the players deliberately sabotaged the 52-year-old Portuguese tactician’s efforts, which led to the poor run of form that led to his sack.
But in an apparent attempt to not repeat the mistakes of his predecessor, interim Blues boss, Guus Hiddink has issued a warning to Chelsea players to do their best to fit into his plans or leave the club.
He said: “Yesterday I talked fully to the squad. I told them, things happen in football and I want them to look in the mirror, not just two seconds but longer, and see how they can contribute on the way up.
“I told them as professionals to look in the mirror and be ultra-critical. There must be desire to play. If you don’t have it, knock on my door and we’ll talk…briefly. We have to show to ourselves, to the club and to the fans that the team has a big desire to wash away the last half year and go up to the next coming games. If we do that, the results will follow. I know the fans will support the team as they did briefly during some executions of the last game. They have the right to express themselves about what happened in the recent past.’’