Terry insists Chelsea players are to blame for slump

John Terry has insisted the Chelsea players take responsibility for their dismal form so far this season.

The Premier League champions suffered a 3-1 home defeat to Liverpool on Saturday - their sixth loss in 11 league games - to pile further pressure on manager Jose Mourinho.

Reports of a player revolt against the Portuguese surfaced over the weekend and prompted Cesc Fabregas on Tuesday to deny he was responsible for negative reports about the former Real Madrid coach.

Club captain Terry has now insisted the players are fully behind Mourinho and are determined to try and salvage their season.

"The players and me personally can say we have not been good enough," he said. "It is not the manager's responsibility. The players are 100 per cent behind the manager. We are together.

"The manager has always been the same. He is always demanding and he wants to win. Collectively we will bounce back from this and climb up the table. I am sure of that. We are prepared to fight and anyone who has seen our recent games will have seen that.

"He takes [heat] away from us. He protects us. We need to be better, he's protecting us from that. There's talk about him and Eden [Hazard]. We're talking about one of the best managers and best players at the club. 

"There's been talk about them leaving, they have to be in the Premier League. People can't be happy about us struggling.

"It's not going to come to that [Mourinho leaving]. In all aspects he's by a long, long way the very best. We are going to turn it around. There's no what-ifs. That's the only way. I'm sure he'll be the manager at the end of the season ... and long after I've finished at this football club."

Chelsea will seek to record their second win of the Champions League group stage when they host Dynamo Kiev at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.