Hinddink: Glad to be back with Chelsea

United Kingdom

New Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink has said he is ‘glad to be back’ with Chelsea after being hired as caretaker manager to replace Jose Mourinho who was sacked at the weekend following the club’s dire first half of the season.

At his first press conference since returning to Stamford Bridge, Hiddink said “I am glad to be back and it is a few years ago that I was here in a similar situation trying to help out when I was asked to do so,” he said.

“But first of all I shouldn’t be here but I am here – that is the reality of today’s situation and I am glad to be here because I have worked at that time with a lot of love to the club and to work with the players is always a pleasure.”

After reports that some players lost their desire to perform for former manager Jose Mourinho, Hiddink wants his Chelsea players to “look in the mirror” and decide if they have the desire to sort out their season.

“We have to show to ourselves, to the players themselves, to the club but also to fans inside Chelsea and also abroad that the team has a big desire to wash away the last half year and go up to the next coming games,” the Dutchman said.

Training today… #CFC pic.twitter.com/y5qfxrr8gZ

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 23, 2015

Hiddink gave a slight laugh as he believed it was still possible for Chelsea to finish in the Premier League’s top four while he embarks on a second stint as interim manager at Stamford Bridge.

“Mathematically it is possible,” a relaxed Hiddink, who proved highly popular in 2009 when he took over from sacked Brazilian Luis Felipe Scolari, told reporters at his news conference at the club’s training base.

Chelsea are in 15th place having lost nine of their opening 17 Premier League games, 10 points behind seventh-placed Watford whom they host on Saturday at the start of a hectic Christmas schedule that also includes a clash with Manchester United.