Gary Cahill accepts Chelsea captain's critique

Injured Chelsea captain John Terry blasted the teams recent performances in the match-day programme for Wednesdays Champions League game.

John was adamant that the team we’re “simply not good enough” and demanded more “fight and desire” from his team-mates following a six-match winless run he dubbed the worst of his entire Stamford Bridge career.

This week also saw interim manager Rafa Benitez question whether his side still had the same “hunger” after they finally tasted European glory last season.

His players responded with the club’s biggest ever Champions League victory, although they were powerless to avoid becoming the first holders to crash out of the competition before Christmas.

“If there’s a time where it needs to be done then, sure, it’s a positive, as long as it’s taken in the right way,” the England defender said.

“You have to dig in as a group. That’s the only way you can go forward.”

Chelsea’s squad are known to hold no-holds-barred team meetings in the midst of a crisis.

Cahill declined to reveal whether Terry had repeated the sentiments expressed in his programme notes to the players but added: “We’ve had meetings before at the club, definitely.

“When we need them, we’ve had them and they stay within the club.

“It’s right that the players are upset. They don’t expect to lose games.

“They expect to win the majority of games you go out and play. It’s not been happening so it’s going to be upsetting players and everyone involved.

“I don’t know what’s gone wrong – that’s the honest answer. It’s the same group of players.

“The players have been asking that question themselves and we don’t know really.

“Where do you point the finger? It’s obviously stuff you need to work on in the training ground.

“It’s the same group of players who started the season beating teams and scoring goals and keeping clean sheets.

“There’s no reason why we can’t get back to that but we were hoping it would come sooner. We’ve been waiting for that win.”

Chelsea are already 10 points adrift of leaders Manchester United and Cahill added: “We can’t afford to slip up many more points in the Premier League. We need to get back to the form we had at the start of the season.”

The lack of recent form has been a serious worry and I’m glad Terry has decided to take a stand. We are a team and we all have to take responsibility. Now that our November is over, hopefully we can now get back on track in our hunt for trophies. Are we over the worst of it yet?