The display against Sunderland, which Chelsea won 3-1, suggests this work has already begun.
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Chelsea hope to confirm Guus Hiddink, 69, as interim manager over the weekend.
Before the unprecedented but anticipated sack of Jose Mourinho, he claimed the players didn’t give their all and accused them of betraying him.
Pedro Rodriguez talked up the role of the Chelsea supporters in Saturday afternoon’s 3-1 win against Sunderland at Stamford Bridge.
“I think from the first-half performance, who knows?” he said. “There’s nothing we can do about that. The manager has lost his job because of that”.
Mourinho won the Champions League, Serie A and Italian Cup at Inter Milan and then the league and Copa del Rey with Real Madrid before returning to Chelsea in 2013.
“I’m obviously gutted the manager has gone, we as players feel responsible for that”. Mourinho knew on Monday night after the Leicester loss that it was the end.
However, the Daily Telegraph said Mourinho viewed Fabregas as one of his “strongest allies” in the Chelsea dressing room and said the pair spoke twice in the hours before and after the Portuguese’s sacking.
Jose Mourinho does not intend to take an extended break from football following his departure as manager of Chelsea, according to a statement released by his representatives CAA.
Abramovich sacked Mourinho after they were beaten for the ninth time in the league this season.
Hiddink watched Mourinho-less Chelsea see of fellow strugglers Sunderland on Saturday, flanked by Drogba, and he has since confirmed that plans are in place to bring the Ivorian icon back.
“But rightly so they are disappointed and so are we, we don’t want to be where we are”.
“You have to move on because games come around fast”.
“It’s down to Guus to come in and pick us up”. We could be further down the table and it can’t be like that.
“We’re big enough to stand up and be counted for, and today we needed everyone, and everyone was superb today”.
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“After that goal, we changed the intensity and started to press and we had more personality to get the ball into feet and cause them problems, rather than just hitting it long”.
