Jose Mourinho insisted he had no intention of changing Chelsea’s style of play despite another bumpy ride, this time against Crystal Palace.
Fernando Torres and Ramires scored first-half goals in a 2-1 win that took the Blues to within two points of leaders Arsenal, who they face at the Emirates Stadium a week on Monday.
But once again Chelsea looked open, with Palace coming close to snatching a point in an anxious finish at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho has admitted concerns over their defending this season – a far cry from his first spell in charge, when his team were known for being rock-solid at the back.
However, he says there will be no return to that more defensive style of play.
He declared: “Ten years ago I had a mobile phone that weighed two kilos and today I have a Blackberry – it’s evolution of the times.
“Football is different and our philosophy is also different. You shouldn’t compare different periods and different generations – in this case different leagues and different players.”
He added “I was expecting an easy victory and expecting big problems – I was ready for both things.
“To score a goal and kill the opponent by going 2-0 or 3-1 up you can go to a different result. In that game it could have been 5-1 or 2-2.”
A win at Arsenal would take Chelsea above the Gunners, leaving them top of the Premier League at Christmas.
But Mourinho said: “It’s not important. In this league to be top by December or even by the end of January is not crucial. I think this will be open until very late.”
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This post was last modified on 16/12/2013
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this is d way 4wad. likely under another coach wit difrent mentality, d team shud b set up 2 play short pasing futbal wit som one twos tht can thrive even wen oponent is packing d bus or puting men behind d ball. and frm d defensiv 2 d atacking players shud b ready 2 get d ball imidietly after loosing it in a high pressing gamd. noteably, wen d team employs a completely posesion-based futbal then oposition will simply get tired bcos it's nt seeing d ball, nd might resort 2 fouls. dis is my personal opinion. u can agree or disagree
like Ruud Gullit said, mourinho does nt know d secret of sexy futball. d team lacks quality in posesion nd is poorer thn wen he was nt here. nt a gud coach 4 cfc.
I think Jose is scared of man city. Always playing boring football and giving excuses. He has no clue of what he is doing yet he calls it philosophy!