Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho insists none of his players are hiding despite their poor start to the campaign.
Mourinho’s men sit 14th in the Premier League with just eight points from seven games, while they were beaten 2-1 by Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Despite that, Mourinho believes his team are still hungry to turn their season around – not hide from the challenge.
“There is an animal that puts its head in the ground … an ostrich,” he said.
“In the bad moments, you cannot do that and just wait for a better moment to come, or for the problems to be resolved by themselves. Or waiting for the moon to change and give you better vibrations.
“You make mistakes, you are in a bad moment, no ostrich, head up, face the problems, speak, work and for me this is the way.”
Chelsea’s first chance to kick-start their season comes on Saturday, when they host Southampton at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho said his side had shown against Arsenal, in a 2-0 win in September, that they had the character to step up, having been under pressure heading into that clash.
“Sometimes, players are on the pitch and they are hidden,” he said.
“It’s the worst thing, when you don’t want to be there. You lose two or three matches, the next match you play at home and you don’t want to be there.
“I think we showed against Arsenal that we don’t have that profile. We came against Arsenal in a worse run than now, after [losing to] Crystal Palace and Everton.
“I don’t think we’ll be in trouble not to have the desire and personality to play against Southampton.”