Chelsea FC’s Jose Mourinho: We Are Not Happy With The Result
Chelsea FC squared off with Swansea City in the first match of their 2015/16 Premier League campaign earlier today. Unfortunately, concerns over the form of the Blues during pre-season were carried over into this afternoon’s meeting, and Chelsea could only manage a 2-2 draw with the Welsh side. Jose Mourinho reflected on all of the game’s events in his post-match media comments, and stated that he wanted to have won the match.
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Thibaut Courtois was sent off shortly into the second half, but the Blues continued to push for the winning goal. Mourinho commented that this is his philosophy at home.
"I never played for a draw. Never. So if today we lose, we lose.But at home a draw is only good in special circumstances, like last year, for example, when we were almost champions, so a draw against Manchester United was a good result. Apart from that, we play at home to win and we tried that, so it is normal. – Jose Mourinho via ESPNFC"
This may come as a bit of a surprise to anyone familiar with Mourinho’s style. He is a masterful and ruthless tactician who is able to adapt to a changing game situation. After Courtois had been sent off, you would expect Mourinho to take into account that Swansea are a quality team, and thus getting a point when down to 10 men is quite a credible achievement.
However, the Blues did not park the bus, even when Kurt Zouma was brought on for Cesc Fabregas. In fact, the Frenchman often found himself in a wide right attacking position as opposed to sitting in the hole alongside Nemanja Matic. In the last 10 minutes it seemed as if the Welsh side were the ones a man down.
With this attitude, Mourinho was not too happy with the result despite being content with the efforts shown by the players on the pitch.
"Playing with 10 men for such a long time is much more difficult and fundamentally I am happy with the quality they had in the first half and I am happy with their spirit in the second half, so we are in peace. We are not happy with the result."
Chelsea fans, meanwhile, may take a different view. After losing their goalkeeper, a majority of fans may be relieved to have escaped with the point, especially given how dangerous Swansea looked going forward against a full 11.
On the other hand, the performance of the players was poor. There was a lack of cohesion and structure in their play. While the first half featured some good moves in the attacking third, the defence always looked uncertain. The second half was worse and Mourinho should really consider himself lucky to have held out for the draw.
With regard to the sending off and the penalty, the boss remained silent, preferring to leave the debating and discussion to the pundits in a bid not to be painted as a moaner throughout the whole season.
"I do not want to speak about red cards…I want to react this way so you don’t say he was [complaining] from day one. In day one we were punished, but it was not on day one that I opened my mouth."
Fair enough, I guess. Personally I didn’t think that Chelsea could complain too much about the officiating. The red card may have been a bit harsh, but you could understand why referee Michael Oliver gave it. It was a poor team performance and they will need to get their act together sharpish, or risk being left behind in the title’s dust.
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