Gary
Neville wants to see Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho stay put - but warned the
"bad headlines" have to stop.
The Premier League champions have endured a dire start to the season and
lost their fifth league match on Saturday as they were beaten 2-1 at West
Ham.
Mourinho was sent to the stands during the defeat and then refused to speak
to the media afterwards.
Earlier this month he was fined £50,000 and given a suspended stadium ban
for criticising referee Robert Madley after his side's 3-1 home defeat to
Southampton.
"The snowball started rolling down the hill two or three months ago, even as
far back as the Charity Shield defeat," said Neville on the Gary Neville
Podcast.
"Then there was the (Eva Carneiro) doctor situation, the ill-discipline, not
doing press conferences, somehow it's almost as if the players have lost
belief and confidence.
"Mourinho is a fantastic manager - one of the best in the world - and I have
an enormous amount of time and respect for him, but the bad headlines need
to stop quickly.
"The trust we had in them has gone and they look like an ordinary team, when
they are not an ordinary team, they are a fantastic side who won the league
a few months ago."
Defeat at Upton Park has left the Blues 15th in the Premier League with just
11 points from 10 games.
Neville says it is up to Mourinho to get the club back up the table and
hopes the Portuguese does not leave Stamford Bridge.
"He has got to pull it round, he's got to intervene and do something,"
Neville added. "He's been one of the best managers over the past 10-12 years
in terms of intervening in football matches, now he's got to intervene off
the pitch.
"He's got to be statesman-like, he's got to take the lead.
"I want to see him at Chelsea, I want to see him in the Premier League. I
don't want to see him leave, he brings too much good to the league.
"I want to see it settle down but it's rolling and rolling and getting more
traction week by week. He is putting more fuel on the fire and so are the
club and players."
Chelsea travel to Stoke in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday before hosting
Liverpool in the Premier League next weekend.
top