Jose Mourinho has admitted he may have been wrong to make only two changes for Chelsea’s hard-fought win against Aston Villa.
Mourinho replaced Fernando Torres with Demba Ba up front, while Juan Mata returned to the starting line-up.
The Blues boss opted against further changes following Sunday’s victory over Hull and felt that may have been factor in his team’s ragged second-half display against a Villa side who caused plenty of problems.
“Maybe my decision of not making many changes – only two – was not the best,” said Mourinho.
“Maybe it would have been better to put more fresh players in from the beginning.
“I felt my players from the midfield to the attacking areas were not very sharp and that was understandable.”
Romelu Lukaku was one of the players introduced in the second half as the manager looked to bring Chelsea’s forward line to life.
Torres, meanwhile, was left out of the matchday squad altogether.
Mourinho explained: “Sometimes you can have two strikers on the bench but for this game I needed a different balance on the bench.
“I thought maybe I would have to play Cesar Azpilicueta, as he is very fast, if Villa played the counter attack, and that we might need Mikel’s experience in midfield.
“I also knew I needed options in terms of wingers because Juan Mata could not play 90 minutes yet.
“So Torres was the one who stayed off, but then Lukaku can say that he’s the only striker who hasn’t started [this season].”
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This post was last modified on 22/08/2013
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please Jose, what you should understand is that lamps can't play 90 min when we have might mikel on bench.the other option is to use Oscar and rami in holding and mata ,hazard kelvin and lukaku up in front
Wos da yank, you just spoke my mind we Chelsea Fans should throw sentiment away and say the facts, mourinho's Chelsea is getting boring to watch. I thought Di matteo and Benitez puts Chelsea fc on the right track, I love mourinho he is a great coach but sentiment apart using Frank lampad in place of this budding talents we have is crazy benching David Luiz for Terry is crazy as well. I believe mourinho coming may mean well if he follows the right part of continuity. Carlos the Real marid coach is benching Ike Casilla even after mourinho left because of continuity. Chelsea is not a team someone will just come to build from the scratch, Di matteo and Benitez have already laid a good foundation. A wise man without bride will follow that foundation to succeed. No sentiment.
@easy good one..in ma own perspective I strongly believe chelsea can't win manu without good mildfielder..Mikel Is a great passer of d ball no doubt about it..Lampard Is nt growin younger again..we need Mikel against manu in order 4 Ramires to move upfront..Team chalsea goooooooooooooooo
Mou we thank u 4 realising ur mistks, pls start Lukaku 4 us and nt Ba nor Torres, pls sel Ba to Roma and go for Rooney or Martines. And pls Lampard can't start our game he is gud a player but he nid 2 rest at old age, he misdirect our passes 2much, pls bring Essien or Mikel to play wit Ramires there very strong in midfiled, and giv Cahill warning to stop playing backward football we dnt lyk dat partern. Thank u. Up bluez 4 life.
Please sale mikel!please sale mikel!lol...u now see d important of mikel?i bet u if u don't play mikel against us man u5:chelsea2..biased as u always cry,plastic chelsit fans if mikel don't play overlaping Ramirez will hold my Vanpersie or ur racist captain never.then go back to ur cv and reason well.
Plzz d happy one enough of dis test running we been on d tour for preseason which is enough to know there ability pls stop usin lampard for starting eleven is just dulling d mieldfield even to d extent ramires cant gget himself we know d kind of creativity he has nothing has show just dull d attacking even van ginkel wuld av been a better option In place of lampard personally am not freak abt d goal he used to score we can see against hullcity dat he lost penalty what will av gave to torres to boost his morale and give sense of belongings pls greater match ahead do something
Am so glad that my only happy one admit his mistake, that shown's how quality manager you are, am really wondering and worried while MOU is not introducing MIKEL into our game, presently now it really obviously that their's no stability 4 role that can stand against MIKEL in ENGLAND also a passer, pressure has been on RAMIREZ,pls MOU kindly look into this situation so we can be able to meet up on our mission EPL CROWN
I can see that the pple dat r gud analysts are the three commenders bifor me. those who r bussy talking about lukaku being enough have entered into error. Ba & Torres r the first then lukaku. mour shld learn frm benitez technique of play and stop kidding himself in the media always. i hv not seen any sign of succes yet. mour am tired of ur old pattern it doest wrk in nowadays futbal. Pls graduate like fergie.
attackin is better dan defendin .n dats beautiful futball,mou i believe his stil sturdin his players n hw dey fit in togeda wit d tempo of epl...am ok wit d defence line..harzard,oskar n moses are very sharp frm wings,lukaku shuld b upfront al d tim he has d potencials of bn a lone striker.torres a supersub anytime,mikel,ramires n mata shuld b in midle,wen u play mikel,ur wingrs get even shaper,we nid lamp experience,but nt nintymin..shud b rotate wit lamp..d GENERAL TAKE NOTE.go chelsea
Thankgod mourinho admit his early mistakes against aston villa, is better for mourinho to give mikel chance in the midfield, lampard and ramires did not work well to maintained our possesion, i think next game mourinho will start with mikel in the midfield and cesar to play rightback lukaku to attack..