Chelsea lost to Basel for the second time in this seasons’ Champions League courtesy Mohamed Salah’s fine finish in Switzerland. Chelsea still managed to qualify though as Schalke only managed a draw against Steaua.
Mourinho after the match admitted that qualifying was a bonus after his side failed to have even a single shot on target in Switzerland.
“A bad performance, a deserved defeat – but because of other results we qualify mathematically and that is the only positive thing for this night that we qualify for last 16”
“Now we have to get a result at home to finish first, so that is the only positive thing.”
When Jose was asked what thing he did not like in the Chelsea display he replied: “Everything”
“I didn’t like it from the first minute, we started with a defensive mistake immediately, the first time we were in the game we made a defensive mistake – I think we only had a little bit of stability and control in second-half but I felt the team was tired.”
“I think the team paid today the price for their international 15 days,”
“The match against West Ham was crucial and everyone played a great intense game but I think today we paid a price, they were tired.”
“There was no reaction, wrong decisions – so I am not so sad with them as I understand, the team was not fresh and maybe I should make more changes in the team.”
“But when you get such a good performance against West Ham you have that temptation of playing the same team as they played so well, it is difficult to change them.”
“I made one change with Eden (Hazard) as I thought he could make a difference coming from the bench but perhaps I should have changed more players.”
“We should get a better result than this but I don’t blame the players, we have to rest and prepare for the game at the weekend because even with the defeat because of the nine points we are through, and that is the minimum we could do and now we have to fight for the first position.”
If the players were really tired why did Jose not start with Mata then? It is a question that everyone wants a proper explanation for.
Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta was asked why Chelsea didn’t have any shots on target to which he replied:
“Offensively we didn’t have our best game or create a lot of chances. Basel played really well and pushed a lot but for a team like Chelsea we need to create chances to score goals. If you want to win you need to shoot.”
Gary Cahill pointed out Chelsea’s failure to close out the game and said that late goals should be avoided in the future.
“Sometimes when you play like that, you go so far in a game and it is still 0-0 and you think okay, it has not been a great night for us but we will go away and take the point”
“That has been the most disappointing thing, we got to the 87th minute and normally we would see that out and take the point.”
“We were under a lot of pressure in the game and I thought we defended well overall. Basel asked a lot of questions of us and to concede a goal like that was disappointing. ”
“Basel played really well and we were below par after what was a fantastic performance at the weekend. Obviously when you lose games you must do better and you analyze the game and look at what you did wrong, and I am sure in the next couple of days we will do that”
Chelsea will look to bounce back from failure in Switzerland on Sunday December 1, against Southampton at home.
Missing mata 🙁
I GUESS ONLY CHELSEA PLAYERS WENT ON INT’L BREAK, THAT’S WHY THERE IS ROTATION AND STRENGHT IN DEPTH
He keeps givin stupid excuses…..so so angry mehn….shurrle,mata,debruyne are all on the bench nd he said d players are tired
U ar ryt man….he kip givin silly excuses….
Don’t mind him
I think mou need to understand football and act like a real football specialist, hw can he play th same team just because it give good result, He had schrule, mata and couldnt use them, we all know oscar is good buh ths boy get exhaustd faster, no wonder he is consistent coz he get no time to rest….. Silly special one
IT IS HIGH TIME MOURINHO PLACE LAMPARD ON THE BENCH. WE NEED FRESH BLOOD TO PUSH THE TEAM FORWARD. LAMPARD CAN NOT BE USED IN EVERY MATCH AT THE STAKE OF BENCHING OTHER ATTACKING ALTERNATIVES WE HAVE. MATA SHOULD START.
tired? Basel played with their same team on saturday (practically the same team), not only that, but in the case of tiredness, torres could have started, mata could have started, schurrle could have started, lampard had no need to start. All these bullshit excuses by Mourinho.
Don’t mind. Always givigs excuses that has no bearing.
That’s the more reason why I don’t really the 2nd coming of MOU at all.He’s no longer the same special one we know.Thank God he didn’t made eleven mistakes this time around.He’s also very tired!
It looks like this season JM plan is not to get trophies but to play Lampard in all games. Chelsea talents can play football more attractive than Arsenal but JM not want that … Kill it! But not his plan…
I can say for sure that Jose doesn’t know the style to play, in fact he has nothing in mind. That’s why with all these technical and tactical players clustered in the team, he still tells them to sit back and break on counter. This is very bad!!!! Let’s hope for the better or I fear the worst##
It looks like JM is coming to coach Lampard not cfc!
mata will play anyway next sunday and we will see if we will win
If Mata can’t track back leaving him to do what he does best. What do the DFM and the DF’s do? If you allowed Hazard to play a free role without tracking back in the WHU game , why don’t you do same for Mata? Or its just a Mata of hate? Mourinho should give a tangible explanations to some of the decisions he makes. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the very old Lamps on the field on Sunday.
If Mata can’t track back leaving him to do what he does best. What do the DFM and the DF’s do? If you allowed Hazard to play a free role without tracking back in the WHU game , why don’t you do same for Mata? Or its just a Mata of hate? Mourinho should give a tangible explanations to some of the decisions he makes. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the very old Lamps on the field on Sunday whilst Mata still shares the bench with mates.
Only plastic fans are blind because hazard tracks back in the WHU game. we will see if we will win
Like seriously,who d hell is mourinho fooling,ur blaming d game on fatigue,u have too many players.u have enough width,u have a world class bench,u have juan mata,david luiz,ashley cole,kdb,essien,bertrand,schurrle,@ ur disposal and ur blaming fatigue…if oscar is off d pace why not play a fresh juan mata..with mata last season we beat basel both home n away,what is dis emphasis on defending when @ the end of d day just a pass wud break ur so called defense..its high time things get into shape!!!we know mata can’t defend buh he can pick dt final ball wch nobody in chelsea can do!!!!damn I hate ur tactics
Even benitez didn’t start with mata basel vs Chelsea. You think you know better??? You are a scrap plastic fan who cry like a baby. Chelsea dnt need you. Go away. cant!
There is no doubt jose is fan favourite in chelsea and no dispute that he is one of the best coach in the world.But juan mata is an world class player and i feel it’s pretty unfair to bench player of such potential in two consecutive games.Win or lose CHELSEA for life!
I think all those writing about mourinho making mistake don’t know anything about foot ball Basel are good side we shouldn’t forget they stopped Man U the year we won the champion league. And on him not playing mata he has answered that he can’t play 12 players at a time, he is just trying to know his best 11players I think mata’s time I’ll come just let’s be patient and support out team. I’m very sure if he start playing mata and leaves oscar on the bench pple I’ll still complain no body can satisfy the world
Are you crazy @moshood, did you hear what Mou say? ! Did you see how many good players were in the bench while “the starting 11was tired”
There are no excuses for the lost!!!!
What’s happening with the team rotation?
I think that mata and Luiz deserve a opportunity to show their performance and how they are playing!!!!
I don’t wanna see lampard in the starting 11 this weekend!!!!
We have another good team in our bench but we don’t use it!!
Good rotation is what the team needs. With so many good players on the bench, no excuse for the lost. That is why Di Matteo failed. He didn’t rotate the players.
Mourinho blaming fatigue is the greatest joke ever! Chelsea has over 3 squads of world class players and he chooses to use the same “tired” players that played the West Ham game? That is laughable!