Cesc Fabregas of Chelsea and Darren Fletcher of West Bromwich Albion clash prior to Fabregas being sent off during the Barclays Premier League match between West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea at The Hawthorns. PHOTO/AFP
LONDON, December 16- Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas has implored his teammates to get their act together in order to stop the downward spiral at the Premier League champions.
The Blues crashed to their ninth defeat of the season to plunge down to 16th place in the table after slumping to a 2-1 loss to Leicester City on Monday.
The Spain international was critical of the attitude of his colleagues in what has been a nightmarish season so far.
“We will all have to take our responsibility. If you are a big player, and paid like a big player, you must play like a big player and behave like a big player,” Fabregas said in a Facebook question and answer session.
“We must always be at the top of our games, even when it’s not, and the behaviour has to be better than what we are seeing right now from every single Chelsea player.
“We cannot win the Premier League right now but we must do better. Right now is not the time to think of where we might finish, we’ve been saying it almost all season.”
Embattled coach Jose Mourinho bemoaned his team’s failure to execute his tactical instructions, especially his defenders’ failure to adequately close down Riyad Mahrez, who bagged a goal and an assist on the day.
“I worked for four days on this match. I prepared everything related to the opposition. I identified four movements where they score almost all of their goals,” Mourinho told the club’s website.
“My players got all that information and training in the last three days. From the four types of situation I identified, we conceded the first and the second goal. I think they listened and they are good enough, but the mistakes were there.
“When we make defensive mistakes, we are punished because we don’t score enough goals. The team pays for the number of goals our attacking players aren’t scoring.”
