Mourinho did not give a team talk at Craven Cottage.
Jose Mourinho has revealed he did not give a team talk at half time of the Chelsea’s 3-0 win at Fulham on Saturday.
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The Blues won comfortably thanks to Andre Schurrle’s second half hat-trick but bottom of the table Fulham had the best of the opening period.
Mourinho revealed he abandoned his usual half time ritual and ignored his players.
‘I didn’t say a word at half-time,’ he told Chelsea’s official website.
‘Normally I give the players two or three minutes to clean or change shirts and boots, and after that they know I start talking. They were there ready for me and I was not ready for them, so I decided not to speak because if I started talking about the half I need more than the 10 minutes.
‘They showed that they are very intelligent because without words they understood. They could transform a poor first half into a fantastic second half.’
Despite his obvious dismay at the first half showing, the Portuguese said he was happy with the manner in which his players responded to his unconventional team talk.
‘The first half was really bad for us, I didn’t know if Fulham controlled us or we didn’t start. I was really disappointed because before the match we said they cannot have more motivation than us because although they have big motivation because they need points to stay in the Premier League, they cannot have more desire than us because we also have our objectives.
‘It is a derby and that always means something more to the fans so it is important we play with the same attitude Fulham have. In the first half that was not the case. Fulham were committed and aggressive in a good way. They were wining first and second balls, there was great work by Scott Parker and Steve Sidwell in the middle, and we were not there.
‘In the second half the team was able to change the intensity and started winning individual contests. Our line was coming up and we were attacking spaces behind their defensive line; the second half was really good.’
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