Chelsea boss Rafa Benitez turned on his players after their dismal 3-1 defeat at West Ham United. Benitez insisted his focus was less on his job and more on improving on a game yesterday in which his players badly let him down.

The 52-year-old all but admitted his current squad - shorn of injured stars John Terry and Frank Lampard - lacked fighting spirit.

"We have some of them," he said. "But, obviously, we have also players who are injured who will come back and they will give another character or something different."

Suggesting too many of Chelsea's players were not as strong without the ball as they were on it, he added: "The kind of players that we have, sometimes they have to be in possession.

"And when you are not in possession, physically, you have to cope and manage with players who are quite strong and we didn't do it well."