Jose Mourinho played down the significance of his team’s loss to New York Red Bulls and Asmir Begovic conceding four goals in the keeper’s first Chelsea appearance.
New signing Begovic and his defenders were guilty of some sloppy errors in New Jersey, where the Blues began their pre-season campaign with 4-2 defeat.
It was an inauspicious start for the Bosnian, who was recently signed from Stoke to replace Petr Cech as back-up to Thibaut Courtois.
But Mourinho shrugged off the result and insisted he was looking forward to this weekend’s friendly against Paris St-Germain in North Carolina.
“He [Begovic] was very tired – the same as Courtois,” said the Chelsea boss.
“When goalkeepers are tired their co-ordination is low, the agility doesn’t exist, and the speed of reaction doesn’t exist – Courtois made a mistake in the first half with the ball at his feet.
“Begovic in the second half was not sharp in his reactions but it’s a consequence of being tired from training.
“I’m so happy to have him and in the next game against PSG he will start. There’s no problem, it’s just a process.”
But Mourinho admitted he will be looking for an improved display against PSG.
“Obviously we need to play better than we did in the second half defensively, and there were also too many missed chances,” he said.
“But the intention of pre-season matches is to play, to run, to bring intensity back, so no problem.
“We are a top team and we have top players. We only started training six days ago..”
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This post was last modified on 23/07/2015
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Pls its just his first match with d blues...let's buy stone and marco rues for d right flank
lt is too early to judge any player for now, there is time for improvement up chelsea.