Mourinho lifts players with ‘funny session’

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has revealed he responded to back-to-back defeats by abandoning normal training in favour of a “funny session” ahead of the derby against Fulham.

The Blues were beaten at Everton last weekend and then suffered a shock home defeat in Wednesday’s Champions League opener against Basel.

And Mourinho has been keen to lift the spirits of his players on the training ground.

“Today, instead of doing tactical work, I did a funny session,” he explained.

“I didn’t train in a tactical way. I did a session where we played handball, basketball and played with the goalkeepers training with us and scoring goals.

“I made a funny session where everybody was smiling and laughing, and I think that’s important.

“The way sometimes is not to massacre the players with tactical questions when they are probably not prepared or happy enough for that.

“It was a good session for them. You work hard when you can work hard and also keep the spirits high.”

With seven points from their first four matches, Chelsea have made their worst start to a Premier League season since owner Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003.

But Mourinho insisted: “For me there’s no crisis. It’s just been two bad results.”

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