Jose Mourinho says Chelsea's defensive football only way to qualify for Champions League

London: Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has agreed that he has made the club's football dull to watch this season, but insisted that it had been the only way to make sure that his squad qualified for the Champions League.

Mourinho defended his conservative style, for which he has been criticised over the past two weeks for defensive displays in Atletico Madrid and Liverpool, saying that he changed Chelsea's tactics after they shipped six goals in four days at Sunderland and Stoke City in December.

According to the Mirror, Mourinho said that at a certain moment of the season he made the decision to stop Chelsea's evolution in style and philosophy of play and go the only way, with the team and the players so that they could get results.

Mourinho said that he felt that his squad had no conditions to go as far as they did in the Champions League or in the Premier League if Chelsea did not transform its style of play.

The Portuguese said that there came a moment when he felt that it was dangerous and that there was a big risk that they could be out of the top four, so they opted for a bit more stability and development of a certain philosophy and the team became more strategical and less intuitive from that point.

Chelsea can still win the Premier League by beating Norwich City and Cardiff City if both Liverpool and Manchester City blow up, the report added.