Mourinho was strong in his belief that the scoreline flattered City.
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Iain Macintosh wrote on Sunday that Chelsea are losing their aura of invincibility and their defensive errors are completely out of character for a side usually so adept at shutting games down and bending things to their will.
Such was Mourinho’s concern after a one-sided first half at Etihad Stadium that he removed captain and central defender John Terry at halftime, in order to add pace to his backline.
As well as their vibrant attack, one of the most notable elements of City’s performance was their strength in defence.
Chelsea captain John Terry was substituted for the first time in over 170 games – glumly sitting out the second half as a result of a tactical change, according to Mourinho – with Kurt Zouma coming on.
Eden Hazard was quiet, Cesc Fabregas relatively anonymous, Ramires ineffective as a controlling wide man and Diego Costa was starved of service.
“The club will remain loyal to Mourinho for the time being, but if the blues don’t start picking up some points after four or five games, even The Special One could face the chop”.
In July of last year, the 34-year-old showed off his £235,000 Rolls-Royce, while he has also been pictured in a Range Rover Overfinch 4×4.
Pellegrini said: “I am very satisfied because it is not easy to beat the champions“.
“These players are hungry and angry”. They looked way off the mark when confronted with waves of attack from the competent Manchester City team who had everything Chelsea lacked.
All of which makes the mooted recruitment of Nicolas Otamendi seem odd.
Chelsea has conceded five goals in two games – it drew 2-2 at home to Swansea on the opening weekend – and isn’t looking as dynamic going forward.
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Senior stars Toure and Kompany look back to their best and Aguero was a constant menace in his first start, having come back late in preseason. They still have a few weeks of the transfer window to add to their squad but to needlessly tamper with it by letting Mangala go as he appears to be improving seems hasty and disruptive. Of course there were moments we had to defend well, but the best chances fell to us.
