Full transcript: Mourinho lays into Chelsea players after Leicester loss
After Chelsea were beaten for the ninth time in the Premier League this season at Leicester City on Monday, Jose Mourinho gave a frank interview to
Sky Sports.
He admitted that several of his players are not playing as well as they should be, revealed Eden Hazard took the decision upon himself to come off with a hip injury and conceded the top four is no longer within Chelsea's grasp this season.
Here is the full transcript from the Portuguese coach's interview.
Interviewer: It was a difficult night, what are your thoughts? Mourinho: I think [Leicester] deserved to win because they were better than us during a longer period of time. I think we were the best team for 20-25 minutes, they were the best team for an hour.
They were very consistent, very focused, not making mistakes, aggressive with everyody, high tempo, great mentality - it was difficult for us.
Then we concede two goals that are unacceptable for me. I know my best quality is to read the opponents for my players and to identify every detail and these two goals - with the movement of [Jamie] Vardy between the two central defenders and then [Riyad] Mahrez one-against-one when I want one-against-two - are difficult to accept.
I feel my work was betrayed. Then we scored a goal with 15 minutes to go, but it was almost five because of the ballboys, the injuries, the ball disappearing and all this stuff. It's not nice, but they did it very well.
It's difficult for us to score goals when [Chelsea's players] are not at their best level, it's obvious, everyboy knows that. When you have some players in crucial positions not playing at a normal level, it is difficult.
Interviewer: Was it hard to watch?
Mourinho: Yeah, it was hard. All last season I did phenomenal work and I took them to a level that is not their level. It's more than they really are. It’s not all of them, of course, but clearly for some of them it is more difficult [to repeat those levels of performance].
Interviewer: What happened with the Hazard injury?
Mourinho: The only thing I know is in 10 seconds he made the decision himself. It must be a serious injury as he made the decision himself and just left the pitch.
It must be something important. His first reaction was ‘I can’t’ but then he wanted to try. Then he said he couldn’t do it and it was him in a few seconds that had three different perspectives. He is injured, clearly.
I don’t have time to understand what the injury was during the game, now I will have time to understand. Clearly he tried, but he felt immediately he couldn’t carry on.
Interviewer: Your changes helped.
Mourinho: I always try to help, [my changes] helped, but it wasn't enough. We took off John [Terry], kept [Kurt] Zouma and Azpi [Cesar Azpilicueta] for the [Leicester] counter-attacks, because of their pace.
We put on an extra midfield player, then an extra striker, because clearly Diego [Costa] is in trouble in the box. Normally his movement is outside the box, so I tried to bring [Loic] Remy in to have another body there.
Interviewer: What do you try now?
Mourinho: I don’t know any way than working at the top level - and that’s what I do every day. I have to be honest and say day-by-day in training I have no complaints with the players.
There is a difference between training and matches, clearly yes. I have to be honest with them, but in training they work well. I enjoy training with them because they want to work.
Interviewer: Is the top four gone now?
Mourinho: Yes, clearly yes.