Michael Ballack expects Guus Hiddink to lift Chelsea's players for the remainder of this season.

Ballack told The Sun: "I played against him in the '02 World Cup and against Russia in the current World Cup qualifiers. He's an experienced coach, a very strong coach. He's had a lot of success. Even with teams like South Korea, Australia and now Russia.

"He has pushed them to another level. You could see that in Euro 2008. That's what we know from outside. So now we start at Chelsea.

"He is experienced, a strong person but it's too soon to say anything about him. We were away on international duty when we heard Chelsea sacked the manager.

"It was not easy but everybody stayed together on Friday and Saturday and it was really important for us to win at Watford."

Ballack admitted that, with 14 weeks of the season left, now is not the ideal time to change managers.

But he reckons - given the experience Chelsea have in the dressing room - Hiddink could enjoy instant success. He said: "It's not easy but he's an experienced guy, we are an experienced team with experienced players.

"We want success and we know how it works normally. It shouldn't be a problem to fight and stay together."