Jose Mourinho has warned his Chelsea stars he
won't tolerate a repeat of their Champions League
flop when the Blues host Southampton on Sunday.
Mourinho was disappointed by his team's
lacklustre effort in a 1-0 defeat against Basel on
Tuesday and promised changes ahead of an
important clash against the Saints, who would
move above third-placed Chelsea in the Premier
League table with a victory at Stamford Bridge.
"I never tolerate it but I have to live with it"
Mourinho said of his side's low energy levels in
Switzerland.
"It's football. Especially in teams in the building
process, not the end product, not a team with
years and years of work together or with maturity
enough to keep that stability match after match.
"But I didn't like the performance, of course not.
And we will try everything not to repeat. The good
thing in the Champions League is that, when we
felt the pressure, we always reacted and performed.
"When we responded to the first defeat, starting the
matches in Bucharest and against Schalke, we
were under pressure and knew if we made a
mistake we'd be in big trouble, and at that moment
the team reacted and played very seriously.
"Probably, in this game, because we felt the
situation was under control, added with some
fatigue -- I could easily identify that -- we had a
bad performance.
"Hopefully on Sunday we will be ready because, in
this moment, our situation is fine."
Chelsea are four points behind leaders Arsenal and
by the time Mourinho's men kick-off on Sunday
that gap will have stretched to seven if the
Gunners beat Cardiff 24 hours earlier.
Mourinho has no intention of panicking just yet,
though, and he believes Chelsea are still in a
strong position to challenge for silverware on all
fronts.
"We are a close distance to Arsenal, we are
qualified for the last 16 in the Champions League
and we will play the League Cup quarter-final,"
Mourinho said.
"We have to improve stability in our game, we
have to improve aspects. Of course we have to.
We also have to improve individually, especially
with the younger players, but we are OK."
Spain's Fernando Torres is expected to replace the
injured Samuel Eto'o up front for Chelsea this
weekend, while Ashley Cole could return in a
defence that will continue to be without David Luiz,
who has returned to training but is not yet match-
fit.
Southampton have made great strides in a short
space of time under Mauricio Pochettino and begin
the weekend in fifth place, just two points behind
Chelsea and with a superior defensive record.
Pochettino has pitted his wits against Mourinho
before but tasted only defeat when his Espanyol
side played Real Madrid.
Espanyol didn't even score a goal in those fixtures
but the Argentinian has a better record against
Chelsea.
Last season Saints won 2-1 at St Mary's in March,
when Rafa Benitez was still in charge of Chelsea,
but will go into the game on the back of a 2-0
defeat at leaders Arsenal.
The clinching goal was the result of a debatable
penalty award and defender Jose Fonte, the man
penalised for shirt-pulling, called upon referees to
be more consistent.
"I did have my hand on him but I just wish the
referees would be consistent," he said.
"If they give that penalty why don't they give
penalties like that every week against Arsenal and
Man United?"
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