Chelsea players were allegedly involved in a half-time confrontation with coach Claudio Ranieri against Arsenal at Highbury on Sunday.
According to newspaper reports, there was a heated exchange of opinions over the Italian's tactics, with some senior players criticising his plans to make half-time substitutions. The Blues were holding Arsenal to a 0-0 scoreline at half-time on Sunday, but went on to lose 3-1.
The players reportedly accused Ranieri of changing the system for no real reason, bringing on Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jesper Gronkjaer for Gianfranco Zola and Sam Dalla Bona. The papers claim that the arguments were so loud that they could be heard in the Arsenal changing room.
Gustavo Poyet said: "It was difficult to understand the reasons why the coach wanted to change things, although we weren't playing well, we were stopping Arsenal from playing their normal game."
This is not the first time this season that Ranieri's tactics have been called into question. He was forced to change his formation half-way through the recent league encounter with Arsenal after an abortive attempt to play Frank Leboeuf at full-back.
Ranieri also sacrificed winger Gronkjaer against Man Utd two weeks ago, despite the Dane having caused havoc in the United defence all afternoon.
Captain Dennis Wise said recently of the changes: "Sometimes it is quite difficult to keep adjusting to different positions but that is what the coach asks us to do. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We have to get on with it."
