Jose's new hairstyle didn't work yesterday...
JOSE MOURINHO claims the Premier League title race is wide open
after a first league defeat in eight months. The Chelsea chief
tried to put a brave face on a 2-0 defeat by Aston Villa by
claiming that his side dominated a match in which opposition
keeper Scott Carson had to make only one save. But after the Blues
missed a chance to replace Liverpool at the top of the table, the
Stamford Bridge boss insisted the increased spending power of clubs
like Villa means that the big four clubs will all drop more points
this term.
It remains to be seen whether owner Roman Abramovich will be
convinced by his managers words after the Russian left his seat as
soon as Gabriel Agbonlahor scored Villas second goal on 88
minutes. Mourinho said: There are a lot of good teams in the
league now. There is a big improvement in the teams below the top
four, so it can be more normal for big teams to lose matches and
points this season.
Other teams have spent money, changed their teams and improved
Villa is just one example, you can find lots of others. Its more
difficult now to fight against these teams but the table after
five matches does not mean much. It was a good game. Villa played
well, Chelsea played well in my opinion.
We made a mistake we shouldnt make, because at defensive
set-pieces we are usually so well organised. We were solid in the
first half but the match changed after a goal in the first minute
of the second half. Villa were well organised, they had spirit,
they defended well to keep a clean sheet. We had complete
domination of the game but didnt score a goal. A point each would
have reflected what happened on the pitch but you pay for mistakes,
we made our mistakes and I cant say they didnt deserve a win
because they didnt make a mistake.
Mourinho admits his plans were rocked by a thigh injury to Frank
Lampard and he will await the results of a scan on the knee
injury sustained by Didier Drogba in the dying minutes of the
defeat. He said: We lost Lampard on Friday after training not
during group training but in individual work after that. So all
the work we did in the week we had to forget it and try to organise
the team on Saturday. I dont lose many matches and it is more
difficult to live with defeat when you are not used to it.
