Chelsea should have kept faith with Jose Mourinho instead of sacking him, according to former Blues player and manager Gianluca Vialli.

The 2014-15 Premier League champions parted company with the Portuguese boss last December after he oversaw nine defeats in this season's opening 16 games.

"I don't think I would have changed the manager," Vialli told Goal.com.

"Obviously things improved slightly after Guus Hiddink took over, he is very good at giving everybody confidence and playing things down and so on, but I didn't see that huge of an improvement.

"Jose could have stayed and sorted things out his own way. It is always difficult. Eventually he left but the season has been quite average, even after [his sacking]."

Mourinho led Chelsea to three Premier League titles, an FA Cup and three League Cups over two spells at Stamford Bridge.