Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho accused some of his players of lacking the right mentality and ‘disappearing’ after the 1-0 defeat against Crystal Palace.
The Blues are top of the Premier League but Liverpool and Manchester City both have games in hand.
Mourinho was quick to praise defenders Branislav Ivanovic, Cesar Azpilicueta, John Terry and Gary Cahill but said his midfielders and attackers lacked “mentality and a little bit of quality”.
“Mentality because the opponent beat us clearly on that,” Mourinho explained.
“Ivanovic, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Terry – they perform in the sun, in the rain, on small pitches, on big pitches, against aggressive teams – not aggressive teams, possession teams and not possession teams. They perform every game from day one to the last day.
“You have other players who are fantastic in some matches and they disappear in other matches, and you can find easily in these matches something in common.”
Mourinho also praised Palace, who produced a resolute display to pick up three potentially crucial points in their battle to stay in the Premier League.
“They had a strong mentality, were aggressive and committed, with every one one of them playing in the top of their potential,” he said.
“In the first half we could have scored before them in and in the second half we had chances to equalise before they had chances on the counter-attack. But even so it is fair to say they deserved it.”
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This post was last modified on 01/04/2014
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Thankyou Mr Green for the only sensible comment here. Personally I always believed that City would win the league this year. Jose's abilities as a coach kept us in the race for much longer than most of us thought likely. It is clear that we need a goalscorer. If we can match the likes of Saurez or Costa next year, I believe we already have the defence and midfield that we require, then watch us go.
The big hope now is don't let the scousers win the league, their fans are unbearable most of the time anyway. Mind you their minds are so full of ancient history already they may not have room for anymore.
Stop playin lampart, matic luzi in desame match coz they re defensive midfielder. Put one attackin player in midfield, hazard need to grow up and stop makin Sly mistak wit goals, bench torres from now till end of season.
It was Jose's fault. Cos he played three depensive midfielders(Matic, Lampard and Luiz) at the beginning and against struggling team C. palace.
Chelsea tried their best but they bored no fruit. In every game there must be awinner so let us not blame the players and the technical bench let us focus on the next mutch dears!
chelsea players are all to be blame, mou is not to be blame. Chelsea did not keep possession all ball was kicked high to torres while torres is not strong to calm the ball to him self, all they need yestaday was to start shot passes from they back four to mildfeild so as to creat chancess. Chelsea second iv is enough to beat palace
Some disgraceful 'fans' on here. Drop Lampard forever? Sack Mourinho and sell Oscar & Hazard? Go watch a game instead of being armchair fans. Complete jokers.
Mourinho need 2 be sacked 2 PSG withHazard n Oscar.We dnt need dem in Chelsea.I wonder a highest paid Coach in de World wit Expensive players in de World loosin crucial 3point 2 relegated teams lik Crystal Palace,Aston Villa,Westbrom,WestHam.So,Eto'o is de only success of Chelsea des season n weneva he nt playin Chelsea can even score a goal.Putin,Mikel or nt makes no difference cos he plays wit fear of nt 2 Make Mistake.Willian should also,be Sacked cos he lik holdin ball 4 long tym n referee Foy is de gud guy 2 be blowin Chelsea games.I want 2 ask Mourinho if Foy is responsible 4 yesterday's defeat??Mourinho,should play Torres in de last 20mins b4 we sell him 2 Attletic Madrid cos he plays Nonsense al de tym.
Yes Moulinho lampad he dont deserv anay oppotunaty 4playing at chelsea again plz sell him n yestaday i admitt chelsea fc has no striker
Let's face it, palace were better mentaly. Mind u they were at home. If it were not for own goal, this was a draw. Question is, is chelsea really unable to win easily againts mid table teams or are they just disregarding them as unworthy opponents?
Tores is incompetent and people should stop d issue of mikel, matic is a beta player.