Guus Hiddink praises Chelsea's new crop of leaders for 'taking command' of the team

I was reminded of Jose Mourinho's final press conference, following the 2-1 defeat at eventual Premier League champions Leicester City, when he accused his players of betraying all his (and all their own) hard work on the training ground with yet another poor showing.

"Well, I don't know another way that isn't to work at the top level which is what I do every day. And again, I have to be honest and say that day by day in training I have no complains with the players. But I look to some matches and I feel frustrated with the difference between what they do in training and what they do in matches."

-Jose Mourinho

Jose's quotes were then twisted to be about the players betraying him personally, but the actual crux of his comments seemed to be to (once again) point out Chelsea's piss-poor execution on matchday.  All that hard work in training, all that preparation, thrown away in 90 minutes.  In the end, it was just another stick with which to beat Mourinho, but is it that hard to imagine his massive frustrations with the players not doing what they've been told?  It's all that any manager would want, at the end of the day.

Including Hiddink.

"That's why I'm happy players like Fàbregas are doing their job, so it's good to see that some players step up, not just in their personal performance but also organising tactically. With Ivanovic, he's not a big shouter but he does deliver the short commands. As a manager, I want what we do in training and team meetings to be executed by my key players. He helps that but he's not alone. César Azpilicueta does a lot also in the [on-field] coaching. Diego, in his own way, does a lot of coaching. I like Oscar, Willian ... these guys who are gifted by nature but also take command in this team."

-Guus Hiddink; source: Guardian

As we prepare for a John Terry-less future, we will need new leaders.  Saturday's 2-1 comeback win might have just revealed a few.  Unlike Frank Lampard, who, for whatever reason, recently had a moan along similar lines about the current Chelsea squad, Hiddink seems far more confident in 'The New Guard' — Ivanović, Fàbregas, Azpilicueta, Costa, Oscar, Willian — carrying on the proud tradition of the Old.