Mourinho fumes at 'ridiculous' defending

April 2, 2014

     

 

   

By ESPN staffChelsea boss Jose Mourinho was scathing in his assessment of Chelsea's defending as a late Javier Pastore strike handed Paris Saint-Germain a 3-1 advantage in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal.

PA Photos Jose Mourinho cut a frustrated figure on the touchline.

Eden Hazard's penalty either side of Ezequiel Lavezzi's stunning opening strike and David Luiz's own goal had handed Chelsea a crucial away strike, but Javier Pastore's last-gasp effort tipped the tie dramatically in the Parisians' favour.
The Argentine wriggled away from several challenges on the byline before cutting inside and beating Petr Cech from a narrow angle, which drew a stinging response from the coach.
"He [Gary Cahill] says sloppy. I say ridiculous," Mourinho told Sky Sports. "We played against a great team, full of good players especially attacking players. You would expect them to score fantastic goals. Not the goals they scored.
"We lose the first goal in an easy position and we assist the striker. Nobody in second goal was there for a crucial position.
"The second goal one of my players scores an own goal, it's unlucky, but the way the team positioned themselves defensively was not the right one. Finally the third goal was sloppy, Gary uses that word, but for me, ridiculous."
Mourinho appeared disappointed with striker Fernando Torres too, after he came on after an hour. The Spaniard replaced Andre Schuerrle, who had been fairly ineffective in an unaccustomed lone striker's role.
"I'm not happy with my strikers' performances, so I have to try things," Mourinho said.
"With Andre at least I know we have one more player to have the ball, we have one more player to associate with the other players.
"Football is also about scoring goals. That is for strikers, for real strikers. I had to try."
Mourinho was not willing to defend his initial formation.
"Don't ask me about that," he said. "I change with 1-1 because I thought Fernando could give us more depth than Andre. With Andre the team had good control and possession, he was dropping deep. I thought Fernando could give us a bit more."
Mourinho has lamented his striking options all season -- Samuel Eto'o was unavailable in Paris through injury -- and suggested Chelsea's lack of firepower made hope of recovering the tie a tough prospect.
"It is a difficult job but not impossible," he said. "They are the type of team that out of nothing they can score goal.
"We are not a team full of talent to score goals, especially at this level. But you never know. We have to try. We have to go with everything. Let's try."
Cahill admitted Chelsea face a tough task to reach the semifinals after Pastore's late strike. "It was a horrible time to concede," Cahill added.
"It's a sloppy goal and unlike us. It's a big blow at 2-1. It was difficult to come here; 2-1 would have been okay to take to Stamford Bridge. It's devastating."