Ex-England international Danny Mills feels after seeing Chelsea beat Sunderland 3-1 it is clear that the players were not playing for Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea showed Mourinho the door on Thursday following a poor run of results which left the Blues just a single point above the Premier League relegation zone.
There were suggestions Mourinho lost the dressing room and Chelsea were a different side under caretaker boss Steve Holland against Sunderland, easing to a 3-1 win ahead of Guus Hiddink taking charge as interim manager until the end of the season.
Mills pointed to a rabona tried by Oscar as evidence the players have completely changed without Mourinho and the Portuguese clearly lost the dressing room.
He said on the BBC's Final Score programme: "Attitude, desire. They came out on the front foot, they were more energetic. They looked like they really wanted to go out and win the game.
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"They played with a little bit more freedom and I think in the first half Oscar had a smile on his face, he tried the rabona with the back of his foot for a cross – you wouldn't see that under Jose Mourinho.
"Whether you like it or not, I'm a massive fan of Mourinho, but it looks like it was the right decision because the players clearly – or a lot of the players clearly – were not playing for him", Mills added.
Chelsea's fans chanted Mourinho's name during the game and booed Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa's names before kick off.
Fans also sung 'where were you when we were s***' after Pedro Rodriguez scored the opening goal of the game.
