Chelsea's 'soft' players savaged by ex-Blues defender William Gallas as he takes aim at Todd Boehly's 'mess' and calls for struggling Mauricio Pochettino to be sacked

The former France international defender did not mince his words while criticising the Blues as he slammed owner Boehly and the recruitment team for signing incompetent players. He also called for Pochettino's sacking as he feels the manager has failed to deliver the desired results at Stamford Bridge.

Speaking to Genting Casino, the ex-Blues star said: "I am disappointed with Chelsea at the moment, I don’t know what to say. At the beginning of the season, I said Chelsea wouldn’t qualify for the Champions League but when you have a performance like they did against Wolves, that’s when you know something is going wrong. We are talking about the owner, the scouts and the staff who have failed with their strategy because they finished 12th in the Premier League last season and are 11th in the table this season. The owners have spent a lot of money on young players and they can’t finish in the top four. Football here is different than in America. How you do business in America is completely different to England. Baseball or basketball are completely different to soccer. The owners need to sign players who are good enough to play for Chelsea. When I look at Chelsea’s defenders, there are some who aren’t good enough to play for Chelsea. I don’t want to speak too much about midfielders or strikers as a defender but when you own a big club like Chelsea you need to buy the right players for the club who are going to improve your club."

He added: "You need to have information about the players you want to buy, you need to know everything. They have bought defenders that aren’t good enough and they aren’t strong enough. Some of them are good on the ball but they aren’t challenging their opponents. For next season, the owner and the club’s staff below him need to have a big meeting because these performances and results can’t happen next season."

While analysing Pochettino's second stint in England, Gallas said: "When you aren’t getting results, the blame always goes to the manager. It’s always the manager who is to blame and this is the risk of being a manager. If the club aren’t performing then they have to sack Pochettino. He won trophies with PSG but in England, he hasn’t won anything. He was tasked with putting Chelsea back on track but he hasn’t done it. I don’t know if there’s something wrong with the connection between the manager and the players."

Despite their ongoing poor run of form, it is unlikely that Chelsea would part ways with their manager this season as they are on the brink of breaching FFP rules, according to the Daily Mail. The sacking of the Argentine, who still has 18 months left in his existing contract, would cost the club over £10m (€11m/£12.5m).

Pochettino's men will be next seen in action on Wednesday as they are set to face Aston Villa in the replay of their FA Cup fourth-round fixture.