Hiddink: Chelsea have to finish the season with 'responsibility and pride'

Guus Hiddink tried to deflect at least some of the reason for Chelsea's collapse in the last 10 minutes against Everton on the stupid scheduling for this FA Cup quarterfinal, and while he's right (and we pointed this out way back when, too), that doesn't change the fact that he selected 10 of the same 11 who played against PSG and then refused to make any changes until the final 15 minutes (a substitution pattern that has been prevalent throughout his tenure).

"You mustn't underestimate playing in the Champions League, then two days later having to play an intense game here. That's not a complaint but they had a week to prepare which was an advantage in the last 15 minutes of the game. One more day of rest favoured by the FA would have been very suitable for us."

"Television is demanding, sometimes against the health of the players. That's a bit of criticism from my side and not because we lost."

-Guus Hiddink; source: Chelsea FC

No excuses for him, no excuses for the squad.  The reality of the situation is that we weren't good enough (or, more accurately, we didn't have a game-changer come up with something great like Romelu Lukaku did), and so we are out of the FA Cup and effectively done for the season.

Sixth place could still be an achievable goal (or seventh, if one of top 6 win the FA Cup), but we have a sizable gap to make up in the remaining nine games of the season.  While the squad had started putting up some better results in the league after Mourinho's sacking, the double-whammy of this past week could easily deflate Chelsea's still fragile, budding confidence.

"When you have a defeat after a well-controlled game until around the 70th minute, then it's a disappointment and you must let people be disappointed. There is no time in that moment to speak."

"The players like to win. Most of them are used to winning. It has been difficult to try and achieve a Champions League place and maintain two roads to have success, which were the FA Cup and the Champions League. They are gone now. That's a pity"

"When you play for a big club you must play with responsibility and pride when the season is as it is now. We will stipulate that. We have to go on with pride for the club. We have the obligation to do so and we will emphasise that to the players."

-Guus Hiddink; source: Chelsea FC

Responsibility.

Pride.

Power.

Bad-ass mothers who don't take no crap off nobody, right?

...

Or maybe just play the kids.