Emmanuel Petit says he saw Chelsea players arguing on the bench as Frank Lampard’s side fell to yet another defeat on Tuesday night.
That’s now six defeats in six for Lampard as interim manager, who watched his side fall apart in the first half at the Emirates as Arsenal cruised to a 3-1 win.
A brace from Martin Odegaard and a strike from Gabriel Jesus didn’t reflect the huge gap in quality between the two teams, with Noni Madueke’s consolation putting gloss on a scoreline that should have been weighted far more significantly in the Gunners’ favour.
And Petit has revealed that things also weren’t rosy for Chelsea off the pitch, as players argued on the bench, and the former Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder believes “the best manager in the world” could do nothing about the club’s current strife.
He told Premier League Productions: “I was quite close to the Chelsea bench and I saw some of the players having arguments between them in the second half especially.
“I was very shocked in the first half the attitude of the players, the body language, no response, no pride, no unity, no friendship.
“I was thinking you could put 20 managers on the bench and it won’t change anything at all at the moment. They need to clear something in the dressing room first and then think about the manager afterwards.
“You can put the best manager on the bench now and he doesn’t get the right answer, there are too many players. It’s a mess and it was embarrassing to watch Chelsea in the first half and I feel sorry for the fans.”
Lampard, meanwhile, confessed his team were simply “too nice” to play against and fears there is no quick fix to the current malaise.
He said: “We weren’t good enough, we were too nice to play against, too passive. In possession we weren’t playing balls over their press, or winning second balls.
“Chelsea have been a big success for 20 years domestically and in the Champions League, at the moment we’re not in that position. But from the moment I’ve been here it’s been evident we’re too nice as a team.
“We can’t change things overnight but we better get their quickly because we have another game at the weekend and games to come.
“The passive nature of our game you can attribute it to many things. There’s the easy go to that the players don’t care enough, but they do care. You can be low on confidence but still show a dynamic side to your games. All the things we spoke about before the game we didn’t do.”
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