- Former Chelsea captain Ray Wilkins tore into the club’s players after the 4-1 defeat to Watford
- The Blues great believes the players need to be cleared out before the manager
- Wilkins slammed the Chelsea players for the quality of the goals they let in at Vicarage Road
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Former Chelsea captain Ray Wilkins has laid into the players at his old club and suggests the Blues clear them out before thinking about replacing manager Antonio Conte.
The Italian tactician looks to be under growing pressure at Stamford Bridge after a string of poor recent results which leave the club uncertain of even making the top four this season.
Chelsea have just two wins in their last ten games and have lost three out of their last four as their season threatens to completely fall apart.
The title is well out of reach now and the club also recently exited the Carabao Cup with a semi-final defeat to Arsenal.
The Daily Star report that they’ve already agreed terms to appoint Luis Enrique as Conte’s replacement, though they may have to wait until the summer to bring him in, keeping Conte in a job for the time being.
Still, Wilkins believes the players have to shoulder a large portion of the blame after conceding ‘abysmal’ goals in Monday night’s 4-1 defeat at Watford.
‘The players are performing in exactly the same manner as when Jose Mourinho expired, they’re just not performing,’ Wilkins is quoted in the Daily Mail.
‘We can say it’s the manager’s fault, but he doesn’t go out there and play.
‘(Against Watford) we were inept. They never started the game. Give full credit to Watford, they absolutely annihilated Chelsea.
‘They’ve switched off. Some of the goals Chelsea conceded were absolutely abysmal.’
He added: ‘As much as people say it’s time for a change at the top, I think they’ve got to clear out a lot of players at that club.’