Sunday 15 March 2015 17:28, UK
Jose Mourinho was keen to focus on the positives after Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw by Southampton.
After the disappointment of their midweek Champions League exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea were looking to move eight points clear at the top of the Premier League and took the lead through Diego Costa in the 11th minute.
However, Dusan Tadic levelled from the spot eight minutes later and Mourinho’s players found Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster in inspired form as they failed to find a winner.
The Chelsea manager admitted he wasn’t happy with how his players responded to the equaliser, but insisted the draw was a positive result after title rivals Manchester City lost at Burnley on Saturday.
Mourinho said: “Yesterday we had five points more than second and now we have six points more and one less match to play, which makes our situation after the game better than before the game.
“The result is positive. It is not negative. It is not the best result, but it is a positive result.
“I thought until the penalty and the 1-1 the team was stable on the pitch and was playing, I’m not saying amazingly well, but was playing with control.
“After the penalty and until the end of the first half we lost control and the team lost some confidence. We were not controlling their counter-attack and they were dangerous.
In the second half Ramires completely changed the game. He completely stopped their counter-attack.
“In the second half Ramires completely changed the game. He completely stopped their counter-attack, (Sadio) Mane disappeared, we recovered a lot of balls in early moments and we created lots of chances to deserve to win the game.”
Chelsea had two penalty appeals waved away when Branislav Ivanovic was clipped in the first half by Tadic and Costa went down under a challenge from Jose Fonte.
Mourinho refused to comment on the incidents when questioned by Sky Sports’ Geoff Shreeves afterwards, but insists the Southampton penalty changed the course of the game.
“I didn’t like the moment after the penalty,” he added.
“I didn’t like the remaining minutes of the first half. You are winning 1-0, you are on top of the game, [they] get a penalty, the opponent gets confidence to play until the end of the first half and we were anxious.
“The moment of the penalty was crucial for the game and as was proved that was crucial for the result of the game.
“But I repeat, in the second half the players had desire, they had the mentality and they had stability. We created more situations than we were doing in the last matches and in normal conditions we would score the second goal.”
