Wilkins sacking has hit Chelsea: Malouda

Chelsea winger Florent Malouda admitted the sacking of assistant coach Ray Wilkins has destabilised the Stamford Bridge dressing room.

Chelsea have won once in six English Premier League matches since Wilkins was axed last month, and Malouda acknowledged the Englishman’s absence was hitting the players hard.

“Ray was close to the players and in training he was involved in the animation of the sessions,” Malouda told the BBC.

“It was a big strain to see him leave like this and we were not prepared for that.”

“I first heard what had happened in the afternoon when it was announced. It was a shock.”

But Malouda stopped short of blaming the sacking for the woeful run of form that has followed, and insisted players were ultimately responsible for their own performances.

“What we need is stability and obviously the players cannot react to this decision. We can’t use it as an excuse and the fans do not want excuses for why we have not been winning, but good performances to turn it around,” he said.

” What we need is good performances to turn things around and say ‘that happened, maybe that was a poor run,’ but afterwards we have to react and carry on.”

Malouda said manager Carlo Ancelotti was working hard to turn the club’s fortunes around and restore a feeling of calm in the dressing room.

“He is trying to bring back serenity at the club because we are not used to those kinds of results,” the Frenchman said.

“In the past year-and-a-half we were successful and suddenly we are on a poor run.”

“When it is like that you still have to carry on and work and believe in what you do. So that’s what he is trying to do, to speak to the players and try to find out the solutions.”