Former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has said that he believes the club's failures this season have been due to a lack of motivation amongst the players.
The Blues parted company with Jose Mourinho last week just seven months after winning the Premier League title following a run of nine defeats in their opening 16 games, which left them just a point clear of the relegation zone.
Ancelotti, who won a domestic double with Chelsea during his time in charge, believes that the success they enjoyed in the 2014-15 campaign affected their hunger to repeat the feat this term, resulting in Mourinho's departure.
"When things are going well, there is a risk of relaxation; when things are going badly, obviously there is a loss of confidence. The coach must always keep a good balance in that sense, lifting the confidence levels particularly when things don't seem to be working," Ancelotti told Goal.com.
"It's a little of this that Mourinho paid for, the fact that 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."
Ancelotti was one of the names linked to the vacant post at Stamford Bridge before it was confirmed that he will take over from Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich next season.
Barney Corkhill
