Mourinho slams ´awful´ displays

Jose Mourinho was searching for answers after watching a string of his Chelsea stars put in ‘awful’ performances in the 2-2 draw at Newcastle.

The Premier League champions looked a shadow of the side that romped to the title last season for much of the encounter on Saturday.

Chelsea were staring down the barrel of a fourth defeat in their opening seven fixtures, having lost just three in the league the whole of last season,  when goals from Ayoze Perez and Georginio Wijnaldum put Newcastle 2-0 ahead.

And while a roaring late comeback saw Ramires and Willian secure a share of the spoils, Mourinho was still left to contemplate what to do with his underperforming players.

He said: “I put the first half down to awful individual performances and when you have so many, it is impossible for a team to be a team. 

“The reason why we had so many individual bad performances is difficult to answer but it is the reason why the team was not there in the first half.”

Mourinho was subsequently feeling mixed emotions following the trip to the north-east.

He added: “I am both relieved and disappointed. I have extreme feelings of the negative and the positive. 

“It depends on the opposition team and the objective but normally I am not happy with a point.”

The game represented another difficult trip to Newcastle for Mourinho, who has not overseen a league win at St James’s Park in six attempts.

The boss said: “Maybe one of the reasons why Newcastle over the years don’t get good positions is because of this mentality. 

“They choose some matches to sweat blood and in other matches they don’t. This is an attitude of a team that wins nothing.

“But they fought hard and they gave everything and they follow a line that many pundits give that you have to fight and kick and tackle and run, and they deserved a point the way they fought.”