Any fresh injury concerns?
"No. We're as we were."
You said the players do care but they are too nice to play against. Have you addressed that on the training pitch?
"We addressed it on the training pitch. Firstly, to be clear, when I said the players care – I know they do because I've been a player and a coach now for a long time. The players do care. They've all got their reasons to care. The reality is the action that comes from that and sometimes there can be many reasons why there's an underperformance or some not so great results. I don't see that as something that's a training pitch issue as such.
"We're working with the players as a group or individually to try and make sure that everyone is on point. Since Arsenal, it's been pretty much all recovery and some small prep this morning to play. So there isn't the turnaround and chance to deal with some of these issues that are more of the fundamental issues I guess."
Todd Boehly said this week that he's determined to make things right. What did you make of the comments? Do you have the input?
"I think it's a good thing. He speaks so positively, that's what I've found since I've been here. [He has] good intentions where the club is going to be taken, so that's good. From my point of view, I don't know. I'm here working with the squad. I'm here for this period at the minute to try and get some form of turnaround in terms of feeling, performance and results. Other than that, it's the owners of the club that make the big decisions."
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What have you been told about the managerial situation? Any update?
"No, nothing."
If you could sum up what needs to improve exactly [for the new manager] to get the club where they want to be...
"That's not for me to talk about now. I'm here until the end of the season. It's not for me to answer at this point."
Benoit Badiashile, he was earning a lot of plaudits earlier in the season for his performances. What have you seen from him on the training pitch? Is he close to getting back in the team?
"Yeah, he's very close. He couldn't play in the Champions League. He played against Brighton which was a difficult match for everybody. He's close. He's in competition with Thiago [Silva], Wesley [Fofana] and Trevoh [Chalobah] in that area of the pitch. He's very close. He's training well.
"He's come here from a different league at a young age in the Premier League, it's understandable to have moments of game time, maybe moments of not. To a degree, it's needed to develop a player in terms of finding your feet in the league as a young player.
"In a normal case at a club like Chelsea and maybe other clubs, there's a lot more stability but at the moment that's not the case. So to give credit to those players themselves, that's not easy to take the responsibility on their shoulders but what they are all doing is trying to work and keep going. We're here as staff to support that."
What have you made of the job Gary O'Neil has done?
"He's done a great job. Full credit to him. I don't know any of the details about it behind the scenes but he's obviously done a great job there. What he's created is a team with high energy, high intensity, a good feeling around the whole club, feeling the togetherness it seems from the outside. He's getting the credit I think he rightfully deserves."
You've had this remarkable career, where do you still get the hunger from to manage? It doesn't look much fun on the outside...
"You probably have to go and ask every Premier League manager that same question. It's what we do. I'm fortunate enough to have a family and the career behind me. I'm 44 years of age. I'm just working how you're working. Is your job a delight every day, or?"
I get home earlier...
"You might not. You might get home later and not from work..."
As a club legend, how much are you hurting right now?
"I'm not hurting because it might be me but I've been part of this club through its big success. It's the same in sport, any sport, it can give you moments of adversity. We at Chelsea have been pretty fortunate for 20 years but when the spotlight is on you, it's on you and as a professional player or coach, you have to understand and handle that because every team will have these periods. Even as a fan base, you can be frustrated, want more, whatever, but I also think you have to have an understanding of what's happened in the last 20 years at Chelsea Football Club.
"It's not one for me, personally, to sit on and hurt us – it's more of finding the action of what's going to get us out of this. The action this season is not going to get us in the Champions League, the top eight or whatever. Who knows where it will get us? But it will be like the first small step and that's what we have to consider. Not all fans want to hear that but it's a reality."
Do you feel like interim managers can have the same impact at a club like Chelsea or do you feel like the players need more stability?
"Every situation is different. I'm the fourth manager, Bruno did one game, so from that you can see it's been a tough season all round. It's a new situation for me because all of my jobs have been permanent before.
"The last time I came to Chelsea, there was a lot of upheaval. We had to put the squad together and you could see the benefits from that as the season went on. This job is just different. It might be more common in the modern day because of the pressure of the big business of modern football in the Premier League and that's it."
A message to the fans?
"They will stick with the team. I don't need to tell them much more than that. You could see at the end of the Arsenal game. The club has gone from when I first joined to a really big football club to a monster of a football club with a worldwide fan base. It's had a lot of success.
"Everyone from the outside wants to say there's not much on it but from myself and the players, we have to show an immense amount of pride in what we do in these games. As I say, it's the first step into the future. Will we need a reboot of some sense in the summer? Sure, that's clear because we're not where we want to be. But at the moment we have to do what's right in front of us. The fans can be sure from my point of view that I'll be pushing for that and I hope they can see the rewards of that tomorrow."
Are you feeding back to those higher up in the club about the things you see with players on a day-to-day basis?
"Yeah, I've got communication with everything that is going on because that's part of my role. As much as we're in a results business, this cannot be the same next season. So my views, having worked here before, with a lot of the squad, I think my opinion can be valid and I think I can express that as I go."
Is it frustrating that maybe the performances and results are having an affect on you as a manager?
"It comes with the territory. I've had three permanent jobs and this is my fourth. I think everyone understands the difficulty of the situation I've come into, I certainly did when I came in. Especially in those first two weeks where we played five times, two against Real Madrid and these things without much time to lay things down. You have to accept that as a consequence of the job. As much as you have your great moments, there will be some moments where they're not."
Is it a case where the stats tell the full picture?
"Well, if you want to list our last four Premier League games, then no. They're not good. That is the full picture. This season is a reality, our league position is a reality, our points is a reality, our goals scored is a reality of the season. We've had four managers through the season, so that's a reality of where the club is at. But that's not my job to focus too much on that or to think about what stats will be produced from the outside because that's a common thing in modern day football. You can make any stat in the moment."
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