Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said clever time-wasting tactics by Newcastle’s ball boys contributed to his side’s first Premier League defeat of the season.
The Blues dominated possession and territory and wasted numerous chances at St James’ Park but were undone by substitute Papiss Cisse’s double in 2-1 defeat.
“We wanted to play more football but it was not possible because of a few things that I thought did not belong to top-level football anymore,” Mourinho said.
“The ball disappeared, the ball did not come. The ball boys run away; these sort of situations.
“They keep the ball, they hide the ball – this kind of strategy. Even during the extra-time (six minutes of injury time) they kept doing the same kind of thing.
“But forgetting that, we were very unlucky and we didn’t deserve the result. We have to accept and move on.”
The defeat also meant a first loss in any competition this season, and Mourinho said his side tried everything but simply missed too many opportunities.
“No complaints,” Mourinho added. “We were unlucky, we had lots of chances to score in the first half. And again in the second half we had chances and we didn’t score.
“They defend and the first time they go forward, they score and after that they put everybody behind against a team that tried everything and a team where every player went until the last second.”
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This post was last modified on 07/12/2014