Mourinho ponders making changes and explains substitution

Jose Mourinho has suggested he could make changes in the wake of Chelsea’s poor start to the season.

The champions, beaten 2-1 at home by Crystal Palace, have taken a total of just four points from their opening four matches of the campaign.

Blues boss Mourinho refused to discuss the form of Branislav Ivanovic, who again struggled at right-back.

But he admitted he was unhappy with the performances of some of his players and would have made more than three substitutions had he been permitted to.

Mourinho said: “If a player is not performing, there are two ways [to respond].

“Either I trust the player so much we wait for an improvement. Maybe it comes, maybe it doesn’t come.

“Or, with players arrives the moment when you think you have to change. I can go both ways.”

Mourinho worked on Chelsea’s defending ahead of the game but they again looked vulnerable at the back and have conceded nine goals already this season.

“I am not happy with the performance. Two or three individual performances were far from good,” he said.

“I blame myself for not changing one. I kept him on for 90 minutes. When I made the third change I realised I needed four, but I cannot have four.”

Mourinho responded to Palace’s first goal by immediately bringing on Radamel Falcao, who scored Chelsea’s equaliser before Joel Ward headed in the winner.

But the Portuguese insisted he was happy with Cesar Azpilicueta’s display despite opting to replace him with Kenedy.

“Azpilicueta was fantastic. I took him off because I wanted more width in the side and to play without a left-back with Kenedy going forward,” Mourinho explained.

“I think Kennedy was responsible for the improvement of the team. The substitution worked and I am happy with Azpilicueta and happy with Kenedy.”