MATEO KOVACIC has said the Chelsea players must take responsibility for Graham Potter’s sacking.
Potter, 47, was axed by the Blues at the weekend after just seven months in charge following their 2-0 home defeat to Aston Villa.
He left his post as Chelsea slipped into the bottom half of the Premier League table.
And their struggles have been magnified by the fact they have spent £600million across two transfer windows.
The buck ultimately stopped with Potter as he departed Stamford Bridge, but Kovacic, 28, feels those in Chelsea’s squad have to take some of the blame.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “We need to be honest with ourselves.
“In the end it’s easier to sack a coach than 30 players, but it’s on us as well, we need to do better.
“We have to say thank you to Potter, who was here, who did a good job, but it’s not easy when there are many changes here, so it was a tough situation for him as well.”
Potter’s assistant Bruno Saltor took charge of Chelsea on Tuesday night as they played out a goalless draw with Liverpool.
But then on Thursday club legend Lampard – who was sacked as manager back in January 2021 – was surprisingly announced as caretaker boss until the end of the campaign.
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Chelsea are 11th in the Premier League table, five points adrift of a Europa Conference League place.
But they are still in the Champions League and head to the Bernabeu for the first leg of their quarter-final tie against defending champions Real Madrid on Wednesday.
And Kovacic has called on the players to rally around Lampard – a coach many of the players have experience working with.
The Croatian international added: “We know him, he was our coach so it’s good news that he is back and trying to change our season because it has not been good.
“We had a short meeting. He explained to us what he wants and what his desire is for the end of the season, so we now have the opportunity to go and climb the table in the league as much as we can.
“We have two beautiful games with Real Madrid so there is a possibility and if there is a possibility to finish the season good then we should take it.
“He came very calm with a clear idea of what he expects from us but it’s still only one day, so we will see in the next days what he will ask us to do on the pitch and how we’ll prepare.
“It’s now difficult to tell how it’s going to be but he is back and we want to do the best for the club.”
Lampard’s first game in charge comes away at Wolves on Saturday.
The Blues then head to Spain to face Real Madrid, before Lampard returns to Stamford Bridge for the first home game of his second spell on April 15 when they host Brighton.
