Chelsea has again turned to ex-Socceroos coach Guus Hiddink to guide it out of a crisis when it named him interim manager for the rest of the English Premier League season following the sacking of Jose Mourinho.
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Drogba is still under contract with MLS franchise Montreal Impact FC for next season, but his presence in the owner’s box following Mourinho’s departure led to speculation that a Stamford Bridge return could be coming. “We picked a team to put them under pressure but we didn’t really do that”, he said.
Hiddink was at Stamford Bridge for last night’s match with Sunderland but Mourinho’s No. 2, Steve Holland, will take control of the team alongside Eddie Newton, who is now assistant first-team coach. “Chelsea is one of the biggest clubs in the world but is not where it should be at the moment”, Hiddink said.
Chelsea fans backed Jose Mourinho and booed several of their own players ahead of their match with Sunderland.
And the 52-year-old Mourinho seemed to be issuing a reminder to future employers when the statement stressed: “During his career, Jose has sometimes chosen to leave a club, but only at Chelsea has the club decided that he should leave”.
Banners were unfurled emblazoned with the words “You Let Jose Down”.
Two goals in three first-half minutes from Harry Kane, on his 100th Tottenham appearance, and Dele Alli gave manager Mauricio Pochettino a win against his former club. “Firstly, because there will be big clubs that want him and secondly because I think he’s a guy who needs and wants football and he’s not the sort of guy who’s going to spend eight months at home doing nothing”.
“Whether you like it or not, I’m a massive fan of Mourinho, but it looks like it was the right decision because the players clearly – or a lot of the players clearly – were not playing for him”, Mills added.
The quandary for the squad had been highlighted within minutes of Mourinho’s firing by Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce, who said it would be a “pretty bad indictment on the players if they actually go and perform a lot, lot better”.
“The first half they played well in general”.
After leaving PSV and joining Fenerbahce in 1990, he returned to the club in 2002 and won three more league titles in a four-year spell.
‘I am happy with the result but it is raw – I feel the way I feel. “We have quality players and the players care and they had to show that on the pitch”.
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“In the end I thought they saw the game out fairly comfortably”.
