• Stoke City 3-2 Chelsea

Chelsea defending a concern - Mourinho

ESPN staff
December 7, 2013
Mourinho was far from impressed with Chelsea's defeat to Stoke © Getty Images
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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was furious that his side's porous defence allowed Stoke to seal a 3-2 win at the Britannia stadium, saying it is "a big concern" for him.

Oussama Assaidi's late goal ensured the Blues slumped to a costly defeat and have let in six goals in back-to-back away games at Sunderland and Stoke.

"I don't feel very comfortable to tell you exactly what I think about the game," Mourinho said. "I prefer to be simple and pragmatic and say that we scored one goal less than them and we lost.

"I can't analyse with you certain aspects of the game, or individual performances. I don't want to take credit away from them. If I was Mark [Hughes], I'd be upset if the opposition manager just said: 'We lost.' They did something to get a point... maybe not to win."

Mourinho was asked specifically about his defence and said he knew his men could do better.

"It's a big concern," he said. "I don't organise my teams this way. Individual mistakes sometimes kill a team, and the way we work.

"But, there are also the goals we didn't score. In the first half, we had lots of occasions in which a simple movement and finish would have meant the job was done. We should score more goals than we did.

"Our first half was fantastic. There was a great quality of football, and we dominated. We had dozens of situations when we won the ball back... but we didn't kill the game.

"By conceding late in the first half, we gave life to an opponent who was in big trouble. In the second half, they had more life. It was less of football - free-kick, yellow card, push here, pull there - and it was more difficult to play."

Chelsea are now third, behind Liverpool on goal difference, but Mourinho is focusing on his own team's efforts.

"I am not looking at opponents directly. I am looking to my team, and my performance, " he added. "The big problem for me is the way we play.

"The other day at Sunderland, we conceded goals at set pieces and today we had another one - but don't speak to me about organisation, because it's not about that. We don't score enough goals for the football we play."

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