In the kind of mind games we are used to hearing from Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, he was at it again following a shock loss 0-1 to Crystal Palace saying that the Blues were out of the title race even though the way the table stands it is far from the truth.
The upset came courtesy of a John Terry own goal that now leaves Chelsea two points above third place Manchester City who still has two games in hand and one point clear of Liverpool who will go top should they beat Tottenham at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.
Mourinho told Sky Sports: “I think it is now impossible to win the title. We depend too much on other results.”
“With what happened two weekends ago (losing to Villa) and today, it is too much now and we depend on too many results.
“Of course, with my mentality, I want to try and win every game.
“The main objective is to finish in the top four. The second objective is to finish in the top three, which is also important.
“Since the beginning of the season I am just trying to win without thinking too much about positions, and about points.”
And while the Portuguese manager said his defenders were not to blame for the loss he was not afraid to blame others saying: “My four defenders, phenomenal performance, as always. The others I’d prefer not to analyse individually.
“We missed some qualities. Mentality and a little bit of quality. Mentality because the opponents beat us clearly on that. Strong mentality, aggressive, committed.
“Every one of them played, I think, at the top of their potential and that, in football, is important.
“Clearly we have some players, because of their profile, who find it difficult to perform in some profile of matches.
“You have Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill and Azpilicueta and they perform in the sun, in the rain, small pitches, big pitches, aggressive teams, non-aggressive teams, possession teams, not possession teams and they perform every game from day one to the last day.
“And you have other players who are fantastic in some matches and disappear in other matches.”
As far as his players disappearing acts are concerned Mourinho thinks that this is what was responsible for four of Chelsea’s five losses this season, with the exception being the loss to Aston Villa who he puts down to the actions of referee Chris Foy.
The Blues boss claims he was trying to avoid an incident like the one where Eden Hazard got in trouble for kicking the ball boy at Swansea last season when he went up to one of palaces ball boys in stoppage time suggesting that there were being told to take their time.
Mourinho said: “The kids were doing that all the time, so I went to stop Azpi and I had the chance to get the kid, and the kid was cute.
“He came to me and I told him if he does this, ‘one day somebody will punch you’.
“But the kids, it’s not their fault. It was not me, for sure (telling the kids to slow it down). I was losing.”
