Jose Mourinho: Chelsea played a fearless system against Southampton

Jose Mourinho praised his team for playing fearless football

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho says his team’s 3-1 win over Southampton was a ‘deserved victory’ after changing the system to calm his team down following a nightmare start.

Jay Rodriguez gave the Saints an early lead after just 14 seconds as he pounced on Michael Essien’s unusual back pass that evaded everyone.

Mourinho didn’t panic though, and changed his system around following Oscar’s injury to preserve his incredible unbeaten Premier League record at Stamford Bridge.

“I think the players were fantastic in the way they accept that challenge to play the way we were going to play, and I think it was difficult for Southampton,” said Mourinho.

“At the beginning of the second half, it was easy to feel that they were in trouble. They couldn’t build the way they build and starting dominating and creating chances so I think it was a deserved victory.”

In the second- half, Mourinho switched things around and played Demba Ba up front with Fernando Torres with Juan Mata and Eden Hazard operating around them. The change was the main reason for Chelsea’ resurgence and, in the end, proved to be the decision that won the match.

“Probably, people are afraid to do it because they [Southampton] have so many people in midfield and they bring the wingers inside to play inside and to accumulate people in the centre of the pitch so maybe people are afraid to play the way we did it.

“We spoke before the game and with Arsenal winning yesterday and with Liverpool, Man Utd and Tottenham losing points today, this was a must-win victory for us.”

Ramires was a key component of Chelsea’s win and Mourinho sung his praises but, on the whole, it was a team effort.

“Yes, he was, but I always think that when the team plays well it’s easier for individual performances to be better. The team played, the team played compact, the defensive line was not afraid in the second half to step up and to be close to the midfield line.

“So Ramires was more comfortable in that box-to-box kind of football that he plays but I’m so happy for all of them because it was an important victory.”

Ramires won eight out of ten tackles against Southampton, no player in the Premier League won more tackles than him last weekend.