---
title: "Ancelotti: A lack of motivation by players cost Jose his job"
canonical: "https://readchelsea.com/2015/12/23/ancelotti-lack-motivation-players-cost-jose-job/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Ste Hoare"
section: "Chelsea News"
published: "2015-12-23T10:59:49Z"
modified: "2015-12-23T11:00:23Z"
---

# Ancelotti: A lack of motivation by players cost Jose his job

Former Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has spoken out about the sacking of Jose Mourinho and has insisted that a lack of motivation from the players is what ultimately cost the Portuguese coach his job.

Having managed to win the Premier League in pretty convincing fashion last season, the Italian believes that the Chelsea players as a collective took their proverbial foot off the gas peddle, which has led to their terrible defence of their title.

![Denis Doyle/Getty Images Sport](https://cdn.readeverything.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/473046424.jpg)

He told Federico Casotti of [Goal.com](https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2015/12/22/18613052/ancelotti-mourinho-paid-price-for-chelsea-players-loss-of?ICID=HP_HN_1):

> That is the most difficult job for a coach because within a group, both one that is doing well and one that is doing badly, there are always problems to resolve. 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. 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 has agreed to take over from Pep Guardiola as manager of German champions Bayern Munich in the summer, and ironically, Guardiola is one of the names tipped to replace Mourinho at Stamford Bridge.

For now, however, Guus Hiddink has been brought in as an interim manager until the end of the season, and if Ancelotti’s assessment is correct, the Dutchman will have to deal with the motivational issues at the club if he wants to salvage this campaign.