HIDDINK: 'I think we are now focusing too much on Cesc Fabregas'

Guus Hiddink has come to the defence of Cesc Fabregas ahead of Crystal Palace this afternoon and has re-iterated the fact that almost everyone has been poor this season.

Having been wrongly singled out by Pat Nevin, Fabregas was booed by some of the Chelsea faithful when he was substituted against Sunderland which is a point that had been noted by Hiddink as he sat in Roman Abramovich's box watching.

Speaking in his press conference, Hiddink said:

'I think we are now focusing too much on Cesc regarding this, The whole team weren't doing well until December. It's not just one player. 

When you look at the goals conceded, that's not just our defence that is not good enough. It's not just the defensive players. It's the whole team's performance, defensively and offensively. I don't want to focus on just one player who might need a bit more strength or whatever to get back into shape.'

Hiddink has it spot on. We have to be honest about the Mourinho sacking. We all didn't want him to go and of course look for scapegoats. As Hiddink said, it's not just one, two or three players, it's virtually the whole squad!

Speaking of Fabregas, I am more than interested to see where Hiddink settles him down in the side. Plenty of people have their opinions of what is his best position but the manager has stated that he will pick a Chelsea team based on the opposition they face and Fabregas cannot be assured of a start in every game from now on. He said:

"It's not about a goalie and 10 outfield players. We want 14 or 15 potentially good players who, when they're needed, can go into the lineup. One time it might be Mikel. The next it might be Cesc or others. It depends on the opponents, too. 

We try to get the players in the best shape they were last year, it's true. But what we're looking for in the multitude of games coming up is we need everyone in top shape. There are games where, tactically, we want a different balance offensively or defensively."

Again I think he is spot on. Let's face it, we got away with being able to beat teams last season by playing more or less the same settled team for most of the games. This season has been a very different story with Jose Mourinho dropping players for poor form (understandably so!) or maybe because of a personal grudge?

Now, under Hiddink, Chelsea will send a team out to stifle the opposition but to also attack them in areas where we know we can really hurt them. Unfortunately, we have put ourselves in a position now where the result is the be all and end all, the performance is not as important.

If that means Cesc Fabregas is in and out of the side on a weekly basis then so be it.