Chelsea star speaks out and re-iterates everyone remains together.

Olivier Giroud has been speaking to the media since our defeat against Manchester City to re-iterate that the players remain focused on finishing in the top four and are behind the manager. 

Now I have to say that my last post may have seemed to be way over the top and a complete change of approach towards Antonio Conte. I stand by what I said in the heat of the moment. Our attacking play was Sunday League football and he was too slow to make changes to the team after going a goal behind when it was clear that we needed something different to get back in the game. It appears we simply went there with a negative mentality expecting to lose which for me as champions is unacceptable.

It’s beginning to seem that the head-coach does not want to remain in charge at Chelsea in the summer even though I had refused to accept the speculation all season long, standing by Antonio Conte and encouraging others to ignore the negative press. However, I am beginning to change my mind because let’s face it, he is offering little encouragement on the pitch to convince me otherwise. There is no spark about him when our backs are against the wall anymore compared to last season and that disappointing.

Looking back at my match preview for the City game I did state that I expected us to lose the game and it was a game we should just over with to concentrate on the remaining nine games and the 27 points on offer. Two of those are big, important games as far as finishing inside the top four goes against Tottenham and Liverpool at home.

Olivier Giroud has now spoken out after our poor run of form that sees us fall five points behind Tottenham in fifth place and out of the Champions League positions. He has appealed for calm amongst the supporters and re-iterated that the players remain focused and are with Antonio Conte. He said:

"I don't even question myself about that - it is not a crisis. We have played (Manchester) United and City away. Obviously, we could have done better but these are not small games.

We are not happy with that [but] it is not the day and the moment to question whether we are behind the boss or not. Obviously, we are behind him and we are all sticking together."

It is not a good weekend for us because our opponents in the Champions League race won.

But we still have nine games to go. We will believe until the end and keep the faith in our game.

Some top teams will play against each other - you never know. We need to keep the focus on this and win the next game and go step by step. We need momentum to reach fourth place." Source: SkySports.

He does make a valid point about the remaining games our rivals have during the run-in to the end of the season. However, it’s all well and good talking about those games as if we will win them and take three points week in, week out, the problem lies in the fact that we simply do not know what Chelsea team and performance we are likely to see now when it’s a crucial time of the season – the most important time.

I have expected there to be a reaction from the board this week based on previous history at this club when it looks as though we are in grave danger of missing out on the top four but as yet nothing has happened, and we are now focused on Crystal Palace this Saturday evening.

God help us if we do not collect three points!