Carlo Ancelotti believes José Mourinho paid the price for his Chelsea players’ lack of motivation after last season’s Premier League title triumph.
Mourinho lost his job last week after a run of nine defeats in 16 Premier League matches, having guided Chelsea to the title last season. After losing 2-1 to Leicester City last Monday the manager accused his players of betrayal.
But Ancelotti, who was sacked by Chelsea in 2011 despite guiding them to a league and FA Cup double and who replaced Mourinho at Real Madrid in 2013, believes the problem was a failure to keep the players motivated after last season’s success.
“When things are going well, there is a risk of relaxation; when things are going badly, obviously there is a loss of confidence,” Ancelotti, who will replace Pep Guardiola as the Bayern Munich manager next season, told Goal.com. “The coach must always keep a good balance in that sense, lifting the confidence levels particularly when things don’t seem to be working.
“It’s a little of this that Mourinho paid for, the fact the team had not started like last year, when they had a tremendous desire to do well after a bad year. This year it was exactly the opposite; he paid for the lack of motivation among the players.”
