Ex-Blues striker, Chris Sutton, has said that the decision by Chelsea to replace Jose Mourinho with Antonio Conte on a long-term basis does not make sense.
Mourinho was sacked last year after claims arose that he had lost the favor of several senior players.
Conte will come to Chelsea with the reputation that he is a disciplinarian.
Sutton asked whether the players will respond after Conte comes and “hits them with a whip.”
Chelsea won the Premier League title last season with a margin of 8 eight to the second placed. They also took home the League Cup.
However, this season has seen the team lose 16 opening league game and be placed at position 16 after the sacking of Mourinho.
Former Netherlands coach Guus Hiddink, who was appointed as Mourinho’s replacement until the end of the season, has not lost any of his 15 league games in charge.
But the Blues have chosen Conte – who will come in after Euro 2016 – as their long-term manager.
“Chelsea have a good option of keeping Hiddink,” Sutton, 43, added on BBC Radio 5 live. “It is working under him – the team have improved beyond all recognition.
“Bringing in a similar type of manager to Mourinho in Conte doesn’t make any sense to me.
“If the players have downed tools before there is every suggestion that, with Conte coming in and being a similar type to Mourinho, they will down tools again if things aren’t going well.”
Chelsea will get top players
Sutton believes that Conte accepted to come to Chelsea because the owner Roman Abramovich promised him funds to change the team.
However, the former England striker is of the opinion that the Blues will have a hard time attracting top-class players without being lured by European football.
“Who is going to want to go to Chelsea?” said Sutton, who also played for Norwich, Blackburn and Celtic.
“How are they going to attract good players?
“If you want to play Champions League football you go to best teams. Chelsea are going to find signing top players tough.”
Chelsea won the 2012 Champions League as well as 2013 Europa League. They are currently 10 points from getting to the top 4.
Source: BBC