Chelsea's vice-captain Jorginho has said the players "are responsible" for the departure of Thomas Tuchel last week.
Tuchel was relieved of his duties last Wednesday, the day after his team suffered a shock 1-0 defeat away to Dinamo Zagreb in their opening game of this season's Champions League.
Chelsea appointed Graham Potter as their new manager the following day and Jorginho said the squad was shocked by Tuchel's sacking but added the squad must take part of the blame.
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"Of course, we had a great time with Thomas and appreciate what he does for us, the fans and everyone," Jorginho told a news conference on Tuesday ahead of their Champions League game against FC Salzburg.
"It was a surprise for everyone. What has been said between the players will stay there, sorry."
He added: "Of course [the players are also responsible], we are a team. It is not one person responsible for what happened. We are the team as a group on the pitch, so of course, we are responsible for what happened.
"We tried to do what we could and where it could go better. Unfortunately, it wasn't working. The challenge now is to rebuild confidence."
New manager Potter said he will approach a "very different challenge" in the same way as he has throughout a coaching career spent largely out of the spotlight.
The 47-year-old Englishman has taken on by far his biggest coaching job, having cut his teeth with Swedish club Ostersunds for seven years before a short spell at Swansea City and then a highly impressive one with Brighton & Hove Albion.
Potter's methods at Brighton have enhanced his reputation, but the expectation levels at Chelsea will be a new experience for a man tipped as a future England manager.
"You have to look at the football club here, the tradition, the quality, to compete in the Premier League and Champions League, it's a completely different challenge to the one I had," Potter told reporters on Wednesday.
"I am very, very excited, as you can imagine, and looking forward to getting going."
Asked whether working with a squad full of household names would alter his approach, Potter said he would rely on the communication skills for which he is widely praised.
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"It sounds strange, but I approach it as I've approached every job and every football club with the greatest respect for every environment, every context," he said.
"I know that this is a different environment, but we're still working with people. Then it's about understanding them, treating them with respect, getting to know them.
"There's all sorts of narratives out there, that top players are this and top players are that, but in my experience people are quite complicated.
"People have egos people, have different things that challenge and that's the fascinating thing about this job."
Potter admitted it had been a whirlwind nine days since he oversaw Brighton's 5-2 win over Leicester City that few could ever have imagined would be his last game with the club.
"It feels like nine weeks or nine months but it's been brilliant. It's the beauty of football, the beauty of life. You never know what's around the corner," he added.
"Things happened incredibly quickly. I had some really intense conversations with the owners and quickly I realised that, firstly, they were good people, intelligent people, who have made a huge success of their life outside of football and wanting to achieve something really exciting here."
Potter said he had moved out of his "comfort zone" but played down any suggestion it was a risk to join Chelsea.
"If you walk over the road it's a risk," he said. "I left England when I was 30 years old and I went to a club that sacked the manager every year for the last five years."