Florent Malouda has admitted the sacking of assistant coach Ray Wilkins weakened the Chelsea Football Club.
Carlo Ancelotti's right-hand man was given his marching orders by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich on November 11 and since then, the Blues have not won in the league since his departure.
Malouda admits that the sacking put some strain on the Chelsea playing group.
"Ray was close to the players and in training he was involved in the animation of the sessions," he said.
"It was a big strain to see him leave like this and we were not prepared for that.
"I first heard what had happened in the afternoon when it was announced. It was a shock.
"What we need is stability and obviously the players cannot react to this decision. We can't use it as an excuse and the fans do not want us excuses for why we have not been winning but good performances to turn it around.
"That is the way you have to be in life and sport. What we need is good performance to turn things around and say 'that happened, maybe that was a poor run,' but afterwards we have to react and carry on."
