Calum McFarlane insists there is no need for a clear-the-air meeting with the Chelsea players after he was appointed interim boss for the second time this season.
McFarlane has been drafted in following the sacking of Liam Rosenior earlier this week and will be in charge for the remainder of the season, starting on Sunday for the FA Cup semi-final against Leeds at Wembley. He held the role in January for two games after Enzo Maresca was fired.
Rosenior was dismissed amid suggestions the players had lost respect for the former Strasbourg boss, culminating in the dreadful 3-0 defeat at Brighton on Tuesday night.
Asked if he had spoken to the players about their attitude, McFarlane said: “We haven’t had a clear-the-air meeting, we have got the group focused for Sunday. Spoken about the game plan and how we are going to approach the game both in and out of possession. It’s important we have a real focus for the game on Sunday. We can’t be thinking about anything else, what’s gone on in the past doesn’t need to be spoken about. It’s just everything geared towards Sunday.”
Chelsea need to improve performances – McFarlane
The loss at the Amex was Chelsea’s fifth consecutive defeat without scoring – their worst such sequence since 1912 – and left them in eighth place in the Premier League table.
McFarlane, who was one of Rosenior’s assistants, added: ”Yeah, we need to improve performances, the performance against Brighton was not good enough, we know that and it is about trying to figure out a reason why from a technical and tactical perspective, making sure the team are in a better place to execute the game plan.
“It’s not my place to say what has gone wrong or right. We’ve got a massive, massive game on Sunday. All I am thinking about is Leeds as a team, what are their strengths? What are our strengths and weaknesses and how we are going to prepare for that game?”
McFarlane said he had spoken to Rosenior and admits to being “gutted” it didn’t work out for him at Stamford Bridge.
“I spoke to him on the phone on Wednesday,” said McFarlane. “He was good, it was a good conversation. I have a lot of respect for Liam, I didn’t know him before he came to the club, he welcomed me in brilliantly. I have a great relationship with him and I am gutted it didn’t work out.”
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