• Premier League

Mourinho worried by Chelsea display

Jose Mourinho says Chelsea were soft with and without the ball against Newcastle © PA Photos

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Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho said he made "11 mistakes" in his team selection after seeing his side lose 2-0 at Newcastle.

Mourinho's team should have been full of confidence after their dramatic win against Manchester City last Sunday and a Capital One Cup triumph at Arsenal, but they turned in a disappointing performance at St James' Park.

"I made 11 mistakes," Mourinho said in his post-match news conference. "I should pick the other 11 and not this one and it's the feeling I have when my team plays so bad. Of course I'm exaggerating because I had some players in good form, but the feeling is that I made 11 wrong choices.

"We were too soft with and without the ball, but especially with it because we had it for a long time. We gave them 45 minutes of a friendly and it was only when they scored the goal we had a reaction. I think it was a really bad performance by us.

"It is tough at Newcastle. I never won here and I had teams that were champions. It's difficult. They are a fantastic crowd who are always behind the team, but you have to come here with a certain kind of mentality if you want to win matches, and today we didn't come with that mentality."

Mourinho admitted his side's away record is concerning him, but he dismissed suggestion that Chelsea's recent history of suffering dips in form during the month of November was a factor in their defeat on Tyneside.

"I am worried. I saw the previous years and the same thing happened," Mourinho added. "The team was successful in cup competitions and they were not successful in the Premier League. They finished 15 points, 20 points behind the league leaders.

"This season we have played five matches away in the league - I know difficult places, difficult matches - but we have one victory and we have two defeats. It does concern me."

Meanwhile, Newcastle manager Alan Pardew refused to take credit for his side's opening goal from Yoan Gouffran, with the assist provided by Yohan Cabaye after he had a lengthy chat with his manager prior to the delivery.

"I just asked him to hit it on the back of their back four with shape and a bit of pace because we weren't really getting any joy from balls going into their box," Pardew said.

"He executed it on the money and I am not going to try to take any credit for that. You have to be a top, top player to hit that ball in, and Gouff connected brilliantly and gave us a platform then."

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