Former Chelsea captain Dennis Wise feels his
old club's slump in form is due to lack of authoritative personnel in
the dressing room.
Pressure is mounting at Stamford Bridge after just one win in
their last five Premier League games has left head coach Antonio
Conte's future under question.
The Blues were expected to bounce
back from a shock 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth against Watford on Monday
night, but were pulled apart by the Hornets at Vicarage Road with a 4-1
final score.
Chelsea remain in the top four European places, though now sit just one point ahead of London rivals Tottenham.
Wise
believes the reason behind Chelsea's downward spiral boils down to the
dressing room and the team itself, as opposed to the manager.
"At the moment they seem all over the place and things haven't gone as nicely as they'd expect," Wise told Premier League Daily.
"I look at some of the personnel who have come in and they've found
it very difficult to adapt at times to the way of the English Premier
League.
"I look at a certain person who went out the door called
John Terry, he was a leader of that group and I don't think at the
moment they have someone like that who is in there and can sort these
problems out.
"I look at Cahill, and I'd like to think he would be a leader, but at the moment he's been struggling as well.
"The
players going in, they're not quite sure what they've got to do. You
look at Bakayoko the other day, is he going to break forward, is he
going to hold? - I don't really know what he does. He's a little bit in
between at the moment and he's finding it very very difficult in
adapting to the Premier League.
"The manager can lay out
everything for everyone, show them what they've got to do, work them
hard and give them the ideas he wants to portray but then it's people on
the pitch who actually have to make that happen," Wise added.
The club are set to stick by Conte, as Sky Sports News understands owner Roman Abramovich is against employing a short-term fix ahead of a busy few weeks of fixtures.
Wise
believes Conte could still have a strong season in charge, if he is
able to secure a Champions League spot and challenge for the FA Cup, but
feels the Italian must start to pick up spirits.
"His persona at
the moment is on a down and I think to myself, 'come on Antonio', this
is the time where we need the inspiration from you as the manager and
the leader of the football team. You need him to pick them up."
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