Star Metro - Struggling Chelsea have 'foundations for success': interim boss McFarlane

The former Liverpool defender spoke out after Chelsea suffered a sixth straight league defeat on Monday, against Nottingham Forest.

Chelsea have slumped to ninth in the Premier League table and their hopes of qualifying for next season's Champions League appear to be over.

But McFarlane, who took charge after Liam Rosenior was sacked last month, was bullish about Chelsea's future ahead of Saturday's match at Liverpool.

"It's Jamie's job, he's a pundit, he's got to give his opinion and I respect that, that's his job and it's what he's there to do. I can only speak on my experience at this club," McFarlane said on Thursday.

"And I think that there's a lot of foundations for this team to have success. We're not in the best form at the moment, we're not performing the way we should be but I do think there are foundations there for this team to be successful."

The English coach, whose team beat Leeds last month to qualify for the FA Cup final against Manchester City, denied his players had downed tools as the season enters its final weeks.

"The performances haven't been good enough, we're in a really bad run at the moment," he said. "The Leeds performance was a glimmer when we thought we could build on that and we weren't able to do that.

"But I do see these boys every day, every training session, every meeting, in the gym. They are in a good place to go and attack games. We just haven't been able to translate that."

McFarlane said teenager Jesse Derry would miss the rest of the season after he was stretchered off in the 3-1 defeat against Forest following a sickening clash of heads, but he said the signs were "positive".

L.Pelletier--SMC