Mourinho sees improvement with the ball in Chelsea's play this season

After a convincing win against West Ham United on Boxing Day, there was never going to be all that much for Jose Mourinho to talk about. He did touch on something interesting at the end of the match though, highlighting an area in which Chelsea have shown much improvement this season:

‘We are a much better team when we have the ball. Last year we were very strong defensively and very well organised but we lacked a bit of creativity when we had the ball.'

‘The challenge this year was to bring that creativity and dynamic without losing the defensive qualities of the team. At the beginning of the season there was a little bit of conflict with ideas. We made some defensive mistakes and conceded three goals against Everton, it was difficult to keep a clean sheet, but at The moment there is a good balance. The team is happy to have the ball but also comfortable when the opposition has the ball. I think we are a very good team.'

Improvement with the ball was not unexpected, as the addition of a center forward was always going to help*, and another year of the three behind that player working together was always going to lead to more fluid play.

*Good luck with that, Diego Simeone

I have very little concern at this point about the starting eleven, as it's clearly a group capable of beating anyone in Europe. I just hope that Mourinho manages to keep the group healthy and rested enough that they're still capable of doing so in April.