MacFarlane: We're Not Thinking About the Final, But What to Improve for the Liverpool Match

Chelsea's interim manager, Callum MacFarlane, addressed the team's current state following five consecutive league defeats, ahead of Saturday's away fixture against Liverpool.

"A few lads are returning. Levi Colwill has completed another full week of training. Reece James as well, which is promising. How close are they to starting? We train again tomorrow. They had a full training session today, so we're optimistic.

I spoke with Jessie Derry's father the evening it happened (editor's note: the young forward sustained a head injury during his debut). I also spoke with his family yesterday, and everything is progressing positively. It's truly disappointing. The most important thing now is for him to be healthy. But it was great to give him that debut. I worked with Jessie in the U21 squad; he had a fantastic season. He won't be available for us for the rest of the season now. It's an abrupt end to his season. But he showed his qualities and what he can bring.

Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho picked up knocks, so they are unlikely to be available. Robert Sanchez will also be sidelined after the injury he sustained during the match against Nottingham Forest.

I completely understand the fans' feelings. We are just as disappointed and frustrated as they are. The performances haven't been good enough; we're currently on a really poor run. The display against Leeds was a glimmer of hope that we thought we could build upon, but we failed to do so. We just couldn't carry that momentum into Monday's game. Hopefully, we can improve on that this Saturday.

We haven't discussed the Cup final. We've focused on what we need to improve from the previous match and are looking forward to the next one.

I believe the foundations are in place for this team to achieve success. We're not at our best right now, we're not performing as we should be, but I think there are fundamentals for us to be successful.

Liverpool is a really good team, with many excellent players who can pose significant threats to us. However, we also have very good players. Right now, we're focusing on ourselves and striving to improve our performance compared to before."