{"id":10339,"date":"2026-05-19T01:01:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T01:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=10339"},"modified":"2026-05-19T01:01:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T01:01:27","slug":"mcfarlane-promises-chelsea-will-show-heart-and-desire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=10339","title":{"rendered":"McFarlane promises Chelsea will show &#8220;heart and desire&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Chelsea\u2019s squad should be eager to beat Tottenham tomorrow night and potentially push them to relegation. But will they be?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em>If you enjoy Chelsea News coverage and want to see more of it, add us as a preferred source on Google to make us a favourite and see more of our content.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Plenty of people have questioned the mentality and commitment of this Chelsea squad, and you can see why. In games they crumble far too easily, and their lack of effort under Liam Rosenior was shameful.<\/p>\n<p>We will find out a lot about them tomorrow night when we play Tottenham at home. It\u2019s not just a question of playing for pride, it\u2019s a chance to put our old rivals back in relegation trouble. In his press conference today, caretaker manager Calum McFarlane was asked if he thought his group appreciated how big this is.<\/p>\n<h2>Calum McFarlane backs his players to show heart and desire<\/h2>\n<p><span>\u201cTheir heart and desire have been questioned in the last few weeks,\u201d McFarlane said of his players.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI think they\u2019ve shown in the last few games that for me that\u2019s not an issue. Everyone knows the rivalry between Chelsea and Tottenham, but ultimately both teams have got a lot to play for.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to have to do anything extra, especially with the motivation. We want to be getting six points from our next two games. I think they need a point to almost guarantee safety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s hope that\u2019s true.<\/p>\n<h2>In other news\u2026<\/h2>\n<p>Xabi Alonso has to fix his dressing room this summer \u2013 they gave up on our last coach, and there are clearly some bad apples in there.<\/p>\n<p>Alonso\u2019s other main concern is which players to sell \u2013 there\u2019s a growing list of them he likely want to get rid of this summer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL CHELSEA NEWS APP FOR ALL THE LATEST UPDATES \u2013 STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON THE APP STORE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Check out the latest edition of Simon Phillips\u2019 SPTC podcast here:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"SPTC Podcast! Fresh Xabi Alonso to Chelsea news! Summer Transfer Plans! FA Cup Final Preview!\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yiYy60DQcxI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<section class=\"more-stories std-mgn-b\">&#13;<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<header class=\"col-s-12 std-mgn-t\">More Stories about <span class=\"topic\">Calum McFarlane<\/span><\/header>\n<div class=\"post-container col-s-4\">\n<p>\t\t\t&#13;<\/p>\n<div class=\"img-cntr\"><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Getty-Images-6-190x127.jpg.webp 190w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Getty-Images-6-245x163.jpg.webp 245w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Getty-Images-6-320x213.jpg.webp 320w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Getty-Images-6-414x276.jpg.webp 414w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Getty-Images-6-630x420.jpg.webp 630w\" data-sizes=\"(min-width:1230px) 250px, (min-width:1020px) 20vw, (min-width:920px) 290px, (min-width:680px) 30vw, (min-width:394px) 130px, 33vw\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2250\" height=\"1500\" src=\"https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Getty-Images-6.jpg\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-160387 has-webp lazyload\" alt=\"Xabi Alonso looks on from the touchline.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Getty-Images-6-190x127.jpg 190w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Getty-Images-6-245x163.jpg 245w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Getty-Images-6-320x213.jpg 320w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Getty-Images-6-414x276.jpg 414w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Getty-Images-6-630x420.jpg 630w\" data-sizes=\"(min-width:1230px) 250px, (min-width:1020px) 20vw, (min-width:920px) 290px, (min-width:680px) 30vw, (min-width:394px) 130px, 33vw\"\/><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-container col-s-4\">\n<p>\t\t\t&#13;<\/p>\n<div class=\"img-cntr\"><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-7-190x107.jpg.webp 190w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-7-245x138.jpg.webp 245w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-7-320x180.jpg.webp 320w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-7-414x233.jpg.webp 414w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-7-630x354.jpg.webp 630w\" data-sizes=\"(min-width:1230px) 250px, (min-width:1020px) 20vw, (min-width:920px) 290px, (min-width:680px) 30vw, (min-width:394px) 130px, 33vw\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-7.jpg\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-160088 has-webp lazyload\" alt=\"Calum McFarlane in his press conference.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-7-190x107.jpg 190w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-7-245x138.jpg 245w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-7-320x180.jpg 320w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-7-414x233.jpg 414w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-7-630x354.jpg 630w\" data-sizes=\"(min-width:1230px) 250px, (min-width:1020px) 20vw, (min-width:920px) 290px, (min-width:680px) 30vw, (min-width:394px) 130px, 33vw\"\/><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-container col-s-4\">\n<p>\t\t\t&#13;<\/p>\n<div class=\"img-cntr\"><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-80-190x107.jpg.webp 190w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-80-245x138.jpg.webp 245w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-80-320x180.jpg.webp 320w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-80-414x233.jpg.webp 414w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-80-630x354.jpg.webp 630w\" data-sizes=\"(min-width:1230px) 250px, (min-width:1020px) 20vw, (min-width:920px) 290px, (min-width:680px) 30vw, (min-width:394px) 130px, 33vw\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-80.jpg\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-159628 has-webp lazyload\" alt=\"Tosin embraces Robert Sanchez.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-80-190x107.jpg 190w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-80-245x138.jpg 245w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-80-320x180.jpg 320w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-80-414x233.jpg 414w,https:\/\/icdn.chelsea.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Working-copy-of-CNFeaturedHero-Image-Templates-80-630x354.jpg 630w\" data-sizes=\"(min-width:1230px) 250px, (min-width:1020px) 20vw, (min-width:920px) 290px, (min-width:680px) 30vw, (min-width:394px) 130px, 33vw\"\/><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n<\/section>\n<p><!-- Article End -->\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea\u2019s squad should be eager to beat Tottenham tomorrow night and potentially push them to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}