Guus Hiddink has urged Chelsea not to panic after watching Sergio Aguero fire Manchester City to a big win at Stamford Bridge.
The City striker was in red-hot form in west London and helped himself to a hat-trick to boost his side’s chances of making the top four.
Chelsea are limping towards the Premier League finish line and Hiddink has now been on the receiving end of back-to-back losses after previously going unbeaten.
It seems the end of the season can’t come quick enough for the Blues as they prepare for a rebuilding project under incoming manager Antonio Conte.
Big changes are expected as Roman Abramovich bankrolls another spending spree to turn his team back into title contenders.
However, interim boss Hiddink has told the club’s hierarchy to think carefully as they put a plan in place to restore Chelsea to the top of English football.
Chelsea 0-3 Manchester City in pictures:
Hiddink said of the rebuilding job: “Reasonable work, but they must not panic. They must analyse the situation and take measurement.
"It was a difficult game against a well-organised and skillful team It's not for nothing that they are at the top of Europe now.
“We sometimes had dominance in the game, but they were sharp and skilful on the counter-attack. We got caught. We were naive how we defended.
“We always want to win, but they have a class team and they are eager to go into at least fourth position in the Champions League.”
Hiddink’s opposite number, Manuel Pellegrini, is also preparing to leave the Premier League this summer as Pep Guardiola takes the helm in Manchester.
He was pleased with this performance, led by Aguero and former Blues winger Kevin De Bruyne , although he didn’t think the latter had any added motivation against Chelsea.
Pellegrini explained: “It was a great performance. It was important not just to win, but to win playing the way we did tonight.
“We made some very important counter attacks but I think we also defended very well.
“I always said that when we had all of our players 100 per cent fit, this team is better.
“I think that he [De Bruyne] played very well. When you have all of your best players playing together that the team plays better.
“I didn’t think Kevin was thinking about that. He left Chelsea because he wanted to play in Germany.
“We are very happy and that’s the reason we got him here.”
Watch: Guus Hiddink reflects on heavy defeat to Man City
