Roy Keane pulls no punches as ‘disgraceful’ Chelsea stars slammed amid ‘crazy’ period at Stamford Bridge
Roy Keane has slated the mentality of the Chelsea players that saw them underperform last season and hopes a change of manager will revive the club.
The Blues finished 12th last term to miss out on any European football. They began proceedings with Thomas Tuchel at the helm before replacing the German with Graham Potter. Frank Lampard was brought back to the club when the former Brighton chief failed to deliver the goods.
But none of the trio could find a way of turning things around as the west Londoners won just 11 top-flight games all season.
The tasted victory just once from their final 12 league games while being eliminated from the Champions League by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.
A number of names were thrown about as to who would come in to replace Lampard.
And they finally settled on former Southampton and Tottenham chief Mauricio Pochettino.
The Argentinian was charged with the task of trimming his squad which he has done by selling eight players.
Others have departed on free transfers while there have been six additions to the Stamford Bridge squad.
It remains to be seen how the new stars settle in and if they get off to a solid start in 2023-2024.
And Keane confessed that he still has concerns about the mindset of the Chelsea players.
“They’ve obviously made the decision to let go of a lot of players, there’s been a lot of changes in Chelsea over the last 12 months, it’s quite crazy from the outside looking in,” he said on Sky Sports.
“They’ve got the manager sorted out, but I’m worried about their mentality.”
Keane aims barb at Chelsea stars
Chelsea have been Premier League champions on five occasions but not since 2016-17.
They qualified for the Champions League for four consecutive years prior to last season’s debacle.
But there is optimism that a change of manager might herald an upturn in fortunes.
However, Keane believes that it is now up to the players to prove they are capable of bringing success to Stamford Bridge.
“You heard all the managers last year, even Frank Lampard say that there wasn’t any motivation, no heart in the team,” he added.
“They didn’t want to play which I think is disgraceful if you consider yourself a top professional.
“But the point of the summer was to bring in a manager to get them organised and they’ve done that. They need a settled group and a hungry group.”
Chelsea will not have the distraction of European football this season and can focus on all matters domestic.
They might not be done in the transfer market, with rumours that Moises Caicedo is on the cusp of joining from Brighton.
There has been a tug-of-war between the Blues and Liverpool over the Ecuador international.
And it seems as though the capital outfit have emerged victorious, with rumours that the midfielder wants to join Chelsea.
He could be the final piece of the puzzle for Pochettino as the ex-Paris Saint-Germain boss plots a way back to the top.
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