Thibaut Courtois says Chelsea had a poor pre-season

Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois says Chelsea were right to sack Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho was fired in December after the club's disastrous start to their Premier League title defence which saw Chelsea flirting with relegation.

Courtois says a poor pre-season was at the root of the problem, and the Belgium international believes the owner Roman Abramovich had no choice but to sack Mourinho and bring in a new man - Guus Hiddink.

Courtois told Belgian television station RTBF: "It is hard to explain why our season has been bad. Maybe it is as a result of our pre-season preparations, which were very brief.

Mourinho was sacked in December

"We returned to training on July 16 and six days later we were already playing a match against New York Red Bulls.

"We weren't in a good physical shape. We then lost to Arsenal in the Community Shield and went on to make a bad start in the league. A downward spiral set in.

"We needed a change of manager at that point - I have no doubts about it. We drew too many matches and we have also conceded goals too easily. I could have done better with some of them."