Jose Mourinho snubs his players

JOSE Mourinho could not face his Chelsea players after watching them slump to a shock 3-0 Premiership defeat to resurgent Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.

The champions suffered only their third loss in 64 league games under their Portuguese manager to end an 18-game unbeaten run with a first defeat in three months. Mourinho labelled the setback as the worst in the Premiership during his 20-month Stamford Bridge reign, as he left his squad to reflect on the way they were ruthlessly taken apart.He acknowledged that his side’s huge lead at the top of the Premiership (12 points despite the defeat) might have contributed to the lack of intensity from his team.”Maybe because we can make some mistakes our concentration and the way we approached the game was not the best,” he said.”It’s always annoying to lose, it doesn’t matter who it’s against.When I don’t win, I am not happy, and when I am not happy I don’t go to talk to the players straight after the game, I like to go home and watch the video first.”This is my third Premiership defeat as Chelsea manager and you can say it’s the worst.We lost 1-0 against Manchester City and Manchester United and didn’t deserve it, we lost 3-0 here and deserved it, although 3-0 is too much.”The second goal was stupid and they scored from their only two shots of the second-half.We didn’t defend well, I’m not singling out one person, I mean the whole team.”Mourinho paid tribute to the hosts, who secured only a second Premiership victory in 12 attempts thanks to Aiyegbeni Yakubu’s 16th goal of the season, which added to first-half efforts from Fabio Rochemback and Stewart Downing.He added: “Middlesbrough defended with everything, they’re one place in front of the relegation places so they wanted to close every door, they played with a better attitude than us.”For Boro, the win eased relegation fears and completed an impressive treble of home victories this season against Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.Middlesbrough were humbled 4-0 at home by Aston Villa just a week earlier but turned the tables with a first Premiership victory over Chelsea in more than five years.Manager Steve McClaren, the butt of fans anger last weekend, admitted: “A week’s a long time in politics, and even longer in football.Credit to the players, through all the criticism they’ve stuck together and they’ve got their rewards for keeping positive.”I’m delighted for the fans, they’ve not had much to shout about and to beat Chelsea in this manner delights me.”We’ve been inconsistent, but that’s what we’re capable of doing.We haven’t shown it enough in the last couple of months and our record’s been poor, but there are reasons for that.This gives us hopes for the future and a platform to build on.”You have to score first against these teams and you could see the confidence come back when we scored.”-SupersoccerMourinho labelled the setback as the worst in the Premiership during his 20-month Stamford Bridge reign, as he left his squad to reflect on the way they were ruthlessly taken apart.He acknowledged that his side’s huge lead at the top of the Premiership (12 points despite the defeat) might have contributed to the lack of intensity from his team.”Maybe because we can make some mistakes our concentration and the way we approached the game was not the best,” he said.”It’s always annoying to lose, it doesn’t matter who it’s against.When I don’t win, I am not happy, and when I am not happy I don’t go to talk to the players straight after the game, I like to go home and watch the video first.”This is my third Premiership defeat as Chelsea manager and you can say it’s the worst.We lost 1-0 against Manchester City and Manchester United and didn’t deserve it, we lost 3-0 here and deserved it, although 3-0 is too much.”The second goal was stupid and they scored from their only two shots of the second-half.We didn’t defend well, I’m not singling out one person, I mean the whole team.”Mourinho paid tribute to the hosts, who secured only a second Premiership victory in 12 attempts thanks to Aiyegbeni Yakubu’s 16th goal of the season, which added to first-half efforts from Fabio Rochemback and Stewart Downing.He added: “Middlesbrough defended with everything, they’re one place in front of the relegation places so they wanted to close every door, they played with a better attitude than us.”For Boro, the win eased relegation fears and completed an impressive treble of home victories this season against Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.Middlesbrough were humbled 4-0 at home by Aston Villa just a week earlier but turned the tables with a first Premiership victory over Chelsea in more than five years.Manager Steve McClaren, the butt of fans anger last weekend, admitted: “A week’s a long time in politics, and even longer in football.Credit to the players, through all the criticism they’ve stuck together and they’ve got their rewards for keeping positive.”I’m delighted for the fans, they’ve not had much to shout about and to beat Chelsea in this manner delights me.”We’ve been inconsistent, but that’s what we’re capable of doing.We haven’t shown it enough in the last couple of months and our record’s been poor, but there are reasons for that.This gives us hopes for the future and a platform to build on.”You have to score first against these teams and you could see the confidence come back when we scored.”-Supersoccer