Chelsea players must remember history of club and Blues must sign leaders

Exclusive column as first posted on Si & Dan Talk Chelsea.

I’m amazed by the faithfulness of the fans knowing that they are going to be smashed and they still show up at The Emirates on Tuesday night; very brave when you don’t expect anything from the game. It’s like walking in to a room of Tigers, you’re going to be smashed!

I felt it was one of the worst performances from Chelsea in a long time. You thought they might react or show some pride but you have nothing. They’re wearing the Chelsea shirt, they aren’t playing for some random club, we are talking about Chelsea. I make the difference between the club and the team. The club is the most important thing for the fans, the players come and go, and you have a generation of success, then we have problems. When Ken Bates came in with Matthew Harding we started a new era and things started to get better. I was with my team mates at the base of the new generation of Chelsea, what we had before this. We understood about the club and its history.

The players right now don’t know where they stand, there is too many in the dressing room, and they don’t know what the club represents. Todd Boehly and the owners should have called me when they came in and asked me who we should have signed and I could have saved him £130m! It’s insane what we are seeing and what we are going to carry on seeing.

Going back to the Arsenal game, it was awful with the non-commitment and the involvement that the players had and put in to the game. Even players who are normally leaders like Cesar Azpilicueta and Thiago Silva I felt them being drawn by the situation. It can happen in these situations. You can be bad but you don’t feel that there is any reaction at all in that team on the field. If it was me on the pitch, I would have got the players together in a huddle at 2-0 before we kick off again and say ‘guys, we are the shame of the world right now, so now we are all going to move our assess and try to show some pride.’ We have the right to be bad, but not that bad, not in that way. Many players would have done that – Dennis Wise, John Terry, and even Frank Lampard when he was playing would have got a huddle and spoke to the players.

The players come in and sign big contracts, they don’t realise what we have been through before Chelsea became the club they are now. They don’t realise that there was a generation of fans that waited 25 years to see a trophy. We built this success together through generations. And now I don’t know what the future holds.

Mauricio Pochettino is coming in apparently. I want him to explain to me how he will solve all the problems. What he is going to say to the board, is he going to tell them that he wants 25 players and the rest of them he doesn’t want at the training sessions or to be sold? Then the 25 players you have picked, I want to know psychologically how you are going to work with them to make them play differently. I don’t see in their eyes and in their body language that they are going to change and sort the problem out.

I think Pochettino is waiting for Chelsea to be mathematically safe in the Premier League before committing to taking the job, I think it’s one of the reasons it’s not done yet. I think he will be asking many questions to the board right now though, the squad he is going to get, the players he is going to sign, who will leave, and of course, if Chelsea will still be in the Premier League or not. If they lose against Bournemouth, you can think about it. We should be safe, and we basically are, but if they lose against Bournemouth then the mentality and mind is already escalating down. It’s possible that Pochettino is waiting to see if Chelsea will be in the Premier League. I’m laughing writing this because I don’t honestly think about it because the other teams below, I don’t think get anywhere near enough points to give us a problem, but I’m sure it might be in Pochettino’s mind.

One positive note was Noni Madueke from Tuesday’s game. He was great. I never doubted that he was a fantastic player, and he showed it. But now I want to see it consistently, that is the key in football. N’Golo Kante did well in the first half, he was at least working hard as well as Madueke. The youngster did all he needed to do; he defended well, worked hard, got on the ball, was skilful, and of course scored the goal. I just wish the rest of the players had his same mentality. But it’s great for a young player coming to a big club to have that mentality, and that is the key for the next coach to pick these kinds of players. That’s the only way you can be successful right now. We don’t need artists right now we need warriors, people who are running and working hard. Like we saw when Liverpool first started to come good again, players like Jordan Henderson and James Milner – people who will fight for the club.

I can understand why Frank Lampard has gone for the experienced players to an extent. The thing is we are not in training every day and we don’t see how these players are performing. If Lampard sees the players are horrendous in training, then it is hard for him to give them the chance to play. We don’t know.

I understood picking Pierre Emerick Aubameyang playing against his former team. We saw Mikel Arteta putting Jorginho and resting Thomas Partey, it’s quite fair against a former club. But after 25 minutes you have to say to Aubameyang, and I played with his father and have so much respect for him, but you have to say ‘get out, because you’re nowhere near it.’

I hear people saying Mykhailo Mudryk should have played and maybe he should, but I’m not sure yet if he is ready. He came on and did some good stuff, but Arsenal were getting sloppy because it was too easy for them. I’m not sure that Mudryk is ready – I see him a bit lost, I see it in his eyes. He needs to settle down, work hard, and be ready. Next year maybe he can be unbelievable and that’s my best wish, because he is going to serve the club.

Lampard did used to play the young guys and trust them when he was manager here the first time around, and yes, that might be the solution, because with the others he is picking right now it is not working.

If I was Lampard though, after Brentford I would have said ‘goodbye, I tried and dreamt about saving the club and it’s my club, but it’s impossible, I’m going to go back to a Championship team where I can work with young guys.’ Frank is burying himself and maybe burying his career he has as a coach, it’s killing it.

Chelsea will have a clear out this summer as we know and Aubameyang and Hakim Ziyech will go. I don’t want Romelu Lukaku to come back though. They need to find a solution because he doesn’t want to come back. Deep inside I don’t think most of the Chelsea board want him back. His frame of mind is not with Chelsea anymore so it’s better to let him go. I want him to be happy and if you play for a club, you are not happy at, then there is no point and no reason why you should stay at the club.

Conor Gallagher had such a big season for Crystal Palace last year. We can see that he is fighting like crazy and trying hard to be accepted by everyone at Chelsea as one of the players. But Chelsea is not a family club anymore, and some players need a family club where they feel good and feel safe. Every time we have a game you pass an exam, you’re not certain about anything, that’s the thing. Sometimes you have players who can cope with that and some that don’t, because they want security. They want to make sure that everything is OK and if they have a bad game they will still play the next game. It’s the trust that the coach or the board give them, but at Chelsea that doesn’t exist anymore, especially with 39 players. I’ve found Gallagher a bit shaky and overwhelmed most of the time, and that’s why he’s made mistakes and gets too many yellow cards, and is also a little bit too tense. I want to give him another season though and another chance, but not as a regular starter at the beginning of the season. But if he channels his temper better, he can be a fantastic player no doubt. He showed it at Palace but he has to settle down. He’s a young player and has time on his side but it’s a question mark whether he stays or not. He has the mentality to make it no doubt, but it’s how he handles the pressure and his temper is the real question.

I signed for Chelsea when I was 28-years-old, and all the players who signed with me were that age or older. So they had the experience, they knew the club, knew the football they played, and knew how to behave. They settled very quickly to the Premier League and had the mentalities that Chelsea were looking for at the time. The players Chelsea have right now are all very young, and that’s the main problem we have. We spent lots of money with players on big wages who are just maybe the future of Chelsea, but they aren’t ready made and you want the present right now.

Chelsea need to focus this summer on bringing one or two more players with experience and leadership, that is exactly what we are missing right now. Betting on the future with young players is one thing, but Chelsea used to do that by bringing in academy players. But you need experienced players for sure, players who know the Premier League, players who know how to deal with the dressing room and how to curb this whole situation. I’d love a guy like Harry Kane up front, that would be great because of his quality and his mentality. The guy is taking Spurs on his shoulders for like five years. But he wants to play in the Champions League and next year we won’t have that. We need someone in the middle of the park as well. We need at least one or two players with experience to form the spine of the team, and for the others to stick to them and go forward.

We have another game on Saturday against Bournemouth and we will celebrate one goal and one point right now! That’s where we are! Let’s get a point and secure our spot on the Premier League! Let’s get a 0-0 because, we don’t score goals. But yeah, let’s get a point, a point against Bournemouth, are we talking about Chelsea or some other team!?

I remember Marseille when they signed a lot of players, 6 or 7 fantastic players and they went down. There was no chemistry between the players, the fans got crazy and on top of it there was chairman changes and coach changes every two months because it doesn’t work. So that can happen, not only at Chelsea. Money and changes don’t guarantee success.

Frank Leboeuf