When Liam Rosenior lost his fifth consecutive league fixture away at Brighton, the clock was ticking on his time as Chelsea manager.
On the latest episode of Monday Night Club, former Premier League striker Chris Sutton said "there was a distinct lack of effort from these Chelsea players" in the 3-0 defeat at the Amex.
"That is why people were questioning their character. I am not buying the fact that, just because they have had a result after Liam Rosenior has gone, that this Chelsea team is back in any way, shape or form. I still think they have got a long way to go," added Sutton.
Chelsea's 1-0 FA Cup semi-final win against Leeds United gave the Blues their first victory in nine games.
Now the spotlight has shifted from Rosenior's sacking and onto the Chelsea players as some accuse the young squad of having “downed tools.”
Former Lionesses captain, Steph Houghton, believes players "did give in" and that it was going to be hard for Rosenior to find any momentum after his players were "massively outrun" by Fabian Hurzeler's Brighton.
"When you have a team that stops running it is so hard to get it back," Houghton said.
"These next four games are when you see what these players are about – having a young squad that lacks leadership, the type of players that are going to get hold of each other. In the last three to four months, they have really missed that.
"The automatic thing is to spit their dummy out, that's exactly what they did against Brighton. They have four games left under an interim manager that they all know will be nice as they know him from the academy. So it's easy for them. It's when the next manager comes in, they can't just down tools like they did against Brighton."
Sutton added: "You still have a responsibility for that club to do the best you possibly can.
"The Chelsea players quite frankly should feel ashamed of how they played at Brighton."
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