Chelsea’s bid for a hat-trick of Premier League titles suffered an early setback with a dramatic 1-2 defeat at Middlesbrough.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Jose Mourinho attacked Chelsea’s attitude as their bid for a hat-trick of Premier League titles suffered an early setback with a dramatic 1-2 defeat at their bogey team Middlesbrough here on Wednesday.
Mourinho admitted his side could have no complaints as they conceded two late goals to surrender their 100 percent record, in the process handing their rivals a significant early-season psychological boost.
The Portuguese coach has developed a reputation for hiding behind excuses following defeats. But after a third consecutive Premier League loss on their travels — they ended last season with two — Mourinho was happy to take this result on the chin.
“I’m not disappointed,” said Mourinho. “I’m only disappointed when I deserve to win and don’t. We can’t blame the referee, or our opponents or bad luck. We have to blame our own performance. The attitude was wrong. We changed completely in the last 10 minutes.
“Boro’s attitude was stronger than ours and we didn’t deserve to win. We were on the pitch watching them play and waiting for the final whistle, it was an example of how not to play away from home. We know why we’ve been Champions for the last two season but this performance wasn’t good. We were too passive.”
Chelsea failed in their revenge mission following last season’s comprehensive 3-0 defeat here, despite taking an early lead through Andriy Shevchenko, the Ukrainian’s first in the Premier League since his 30 million pounds arrival from AC Milan.
Frank Lampard narrowly failed to double the lead when a second-half header struck the bar, and Mourinho admitted that he was non-plussed why his side found it difficult to win at Middlesbrough.
An Emanuel Pogatetz header on 81 minutes and a close range winner from substitute Mark Viduka with injury-time beckoning sealed a stunning comeback as Gareth Southgate claimed his first win as manager.
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