Fuente : Chelsea FC
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CHELSEA FC: Reaction: Mourinho - 'It was too bad to be true'

/noticias.info/ Despite the last gasp win at Wigan, José Mourinho was clearly not a happy man after the game.

Single goal victories were not uncommon during Chelsea's Championship winning season but this one was different. You did not need the skills of a mind reader to tell that the performance had disappointed the manager in a way not seen before in his time in England.

“If somebody tried to understand our system today they wouldn’t have been able to, because there was no system,” Mourinho reflected.

“The left winger was playing inside, the right winger was playing inside, the striker was playing on the left, the midfielders were playing in the same line, nobody playing in different lines. It was too bad to be true.

“The second-half we improved from the first minute. We played with three at the back which was a risky situation but we had to do it. The goal was magnificent, incredible, but I don’t think we deserved the three points.”

The switch to a back three of Terry, Gallas and Ferreira occurred when match winner Hernán Crespo was introduced on the hour. Prior to that Mourinho had swapped Gudjohnsen with Joe Cole and Robben with Wright-Phillips in a half-time reaction to the sub-standard opening half. He refused to individually criticise the players withdrawn.

“I blame myself, I blame them, I blame everybody else. We are in the same boat, Champions together, losing together, playing bad together and improving together - and I think today was a good lesson for us. Normally you lose matches to wake up. Today we have the chance to wake up without losing a match.

The puzzled manager added: “We knew all about Wigan. We were prepared for them and I thought my players were prepared because we worked well during the week.

“We didn’t deserve to lose because my keeper, my defenders and Makelele and Lampard in midfield fought very hard to keep a clean sheet. The defenders were in difficult circumstances in the second-half because we gave Wigan a lot of space by playing only three defenders, and it is very difficult chasing people like Camara and Roberts on the counter-attack.

“We had a little bit of luck when somebody hit the bar but we deserved a clean sheet. But to win you must play better than this and the first-half was very poor. We were never in control of the game, never had ball possession and players were out of position.”

As soon as Crespo’s thunderbolt hit the back of the JJB Stadium net, even before the referee blew the final whistle, Mourinho raced across to speak to his opposite number Paul Jewell.

“I told him it was unfair,” the Chelsea boss explained. “You can do nothing at that time. The goal is there and unbelievable, and the points are in our side. At that moment the game is over. I am only saying what he already knows - the result is not fair to them.

Jewell was understandably a man of mixed emotions as he spoke after the match. On one hand he was proud his Premiership debutants had more than matched the Champions but on the other he was still reeling from a Crespo knockout punch that had totally deflated the vociferous Wigan crowd .

“I never wanted it to be a carnival day,” Jewell said, looking back on the big opening to their season. “It is a football match and we are paid to win matches. It was never going to be lambs to the slaughter. We had determination and a plan to beat Chelsea and it almost worked.”

He defend his players against an accusation that they were naïve in counter-attacking for a win in the closing minutes when the possibility was there to play out time for a draw.

“I was a bit disappointed we didn’t do better on one break because it was three v two and we could have won it. The way I want to play is to be positive. Playing for draws week in, week out won’t suit us although today we would have been delighted with a draw.

“We had a corner with a couple of minutes of normal time to go and people will maybe say we should have kept it in the corner. With 30 seconds to go we might have done that but with five minutes to go you have got to try to win the game.”

Mourinho, knowing that as title-holders his team will face spirited performances like this one every single game, finished his assesment with an order for his players.

“We have to play better [than last season]. But we normally do play better than this.

“I cannot remember a game last season like this. Maybe Birmingham 0 Chelsea 1 when Joe Cole scored with a deflection with 10 or 15 minutes to go. It was a similar game. After that game we were very strong. Birmingham was also our first game away from home so maybe that is a good sign.” notas_de_prensa_archivo