Carlo Ancelotti believes that "a lack of motivation" among the Chelsea players cost Jose Mourinho his job at Stamford Bridge.

Mourinho led the Blues to the Premier League title last season but they endured a shocking start to the 2015-16 campaign, losing nine of their opening 16 games, with a 2-1 loss at Leicester City last Monday week proving the final nail in the coffin for the Portuguese coach.

After the defeat at the King Power Stadium, Mourinho admitted that he felt "betrayed" by his players but Ancelotti - who was sacked by Chelsea in 2011, a year after leading the west London club to a domestic double - says that it is never easy to keep motivation levels high within a squad coming off the back of a successful season.
"That is the most difficult job for a coach because within a group, both one that is doing well and one that is doing badly, there are always problems to resolve,"

"When things are going well, there is a risk of relaxation; when things are going badly, obviously there is a loss of confidence.

"The coach must always keep a good balance in that sense, lifting the confidence levels particularly when things don't seem to be working.

"It's a little of this that Mourinho paid for, the fact that the team had not started like last year, when they had a tremendous desire to do well after a bad year.

"This year it was exactly the opposite; he paid for the lack of motivation among the players."

Ancelotti, of course, has just confirmed that he will make his return to coaching next summer, having agreed to replace Pep Guardiola as Bayern Munich boss.