• Premier League

Mourinho right to blast Chelsea - Schurrle

Andre Schurrle has warned Schalke that Chelsea will be looking to return to winning ways against them in the Champions League on Wednesday.

A six-game winning run was abruptly ended on Saturday by Newcastle in the Premier League, a result that angered manager Jose Mourinho and led him to criticise his players publicly.

Schurrle, a summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen, has said that Mourinho is right to highlight the team's shortcomings and insisted Chelsea have to be fully focused on victory in every competition.

"I think it's normal that he was frustrated," Schurrle said.

"We had a bad match and we didn't play well. It's only normal that the manager wasn't very happy with us. When we do something wrong or don't play well he always tells us straight away. But he also does it directly - face to face with us.

"That's good because after that, after he's told you, you know you have to do something to prove him wrong, to prove we are a good team and that we can play well.

"But it's quite right when you lose, or don't play that well, that the manager should criticise you. We know we have to reach the standards the manager wants from us, all the time.

"It's not just about being 100 percent and 100 percent motivated in the big matches. At Chelsea you have to win, every match. Not just in the Premier League or the Champions League but the Cups, too.

"Here, you have to win everything - every match. And that means we have to be right in every match we play."

Meanwhile, Frank Lampard says that Mourinho is entitled to rotate his squad after the defeat to Newcastle.

Mourinho claimed he made 11 mistakes in his selection for the game at St. James' Park and could make changes against Schalke in the Champions League.

In his previous spell as manager at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho had a core of players that he relied upon but Lampard believes the squad is too strong for that now.

He said: "I think that team did virtually pick itself, that Untouchables team.

"Now it's a squad of 20-odd top internationals, particularly in attacking midfield positions. There's a lot of competition so I think it's normal that if we don't win a game he will look at his other options."

When asked what is missing from the Chelsea team, Lampard said that the club need to regain the ability to pick up results even when they are not playing well.

"All the tools are there, it's all about having that mindset of performing at the top level - like we did against City and Arsenal but which we didn't at the weekend," he said.

"It really has to be that even if we are not playing technically at our best we have to have that extra desire to win games and make sure we get the right results.

"We always did in the old days and we need to get that back."

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