Thibaut Courtois: Maybe some players mentality 'changed' after Jose Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea

'The players have to take responsibility as well. We were the ones not playing well'

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Thibaut Courtois says the mentality of some of the Chelsea players may have "changed" after Jose Mourinho was sacked.

The Portuguese, who led the Blues to their first Premier League title in five years last season, was sacked with the club just a point above the relegation zone after 16 matches.

There were numerous reports that Mourinho had lost certain members of the dressing room - a 'palpable discord' was mentioned by technical director Michael Emenalo after he was sacked.

Since the arrival of interim manager Guus Hiddink, back for his second spell at the club, Chelsea have picked up five points from three matches, including a hugely impressive 3-0 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Speaking after the win, Courtois admitted that Mourinho's exit may have sparked "little changes".

He was asked whether results had picked up because Mourinho had left.

"In football it is always like that - that when results are not good the first one to [leave] is the manager, but it's not only the manager - the players have to take responsibility as well," he said. "We were the ones not playing as well. Of course with a new manager some things change. Maybe some players the mentality changed, things change. We picked up some good results, some good football and then it goes again. We are still the same team that last year were the champions with Mourinho so I don't think it's a new change.

"It's difficult to explain [why the mentality changes]. It's something psychological. Sometimes it changes with little changes. Maybe we needed a change to pick up our level again, I don't know. I was out of the team for three months so it was hard to say there was a problem in those months. I was just out of everything."

The 23-year-old admits that the players are playing for their futures.

"Yes of course. We know we are responsible as well," he said. "We had team meetings where we said the same, that 'ok the manager has gone but we are responsible as well - that we need to pick up our level because we are not playing good enough for a Chelsea player'. Now we are stepping up our game."

Courtois also revealed what is different between Hiddink and his predecessor.

"Of course he has said some things that he wants us to do, some different aspects of the game," said the Belgian. "The training is different as well. Sometimes it's his approach in how he wants us to train, maybe sometimes it's a bit more tactical or a bit less. There are different type of little games we play or sometimes more shooting on goal to give confidence to the strikers. Sometimes he is more outside of training, more observing. He leaves training to Steve Holland and Eddie [Newton] and he just puts in when he thinks 'I need to explain this to the team or that to the team'. When he explains, he explains it well.

"Every manager has his way of working."