MOURINHO FEELS BLUES
LACKED FOCUS
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho felt his side paid the price for
lacking focus as they were held 1-1 by Charlton.
"I did not think we played with the same intensity throughout that
we did in the last 15 minutes when Ricardo Carvalho was sent off,"
he said.
"The way we approached the game mentally was not the best - because
if you can play with 10 men like we did, then with 11 you can do
even better.
"But credit to Charlton because they defended well and were
well-organised. "
Mourinho added: "I do not like to speak about it because it is a
difficult job but there were too many mistakes from the linesman.
There were 11 offsides and I think the decision was always against
us.
"But I still think it is fantastic when you arrive at the end of
January and you have just lost your first two points at home.
"
Charlton manager Alan Curbishley felt his side's draw was a
deserved reward for a battling display.
He said: "We were a little bit tentative in the first half but we
worked as hard as we could.
"At half-time we were 1-0 down to a soft set-play but all I asked
of them was to carry on working like that.
"I also wanted a little bit more composure on the break when we got
into good positions - and I think we did that for our goal."
Curbishley was also full of praise for substitute Marcus Bent, who
capped a fine debut with the equaliser.
"We knew that if he came on he could play in that position - and we
also knew that if he played in that position he would want to get
in the box and try to get on the end of things," he stated.
"He demonstrated that he is a Charlton player. He got the goal and
then he was chasing back and filling in and perhaps that is a
little bit of what we have missed in recent weeks."
- credit: BBC
Sport
