Although pundits around the country have been impressed with Chelsea's -- and in particular Diego Costa's -- start to the season, Jose Mourinho isn't nearly as happy. While the manager didn't mention the open midfield and loose defence specifically in the following quotes, it's painfully obvious what he's driving at when he says he's not yet happy with what we have:
I want to make everything better, I’m not happy with what we have, we must improve in everything. We are at the beginning of our second season, we are far from being the perfect team. Are we better than last season? I believe so. Do we have more potential? I believe so. But, with the number of teams fighting for the same objectives, it’s going to be very hard.
I’m not saying we have problems but we have lots of things to improve. Individually, some of the players are very young and have a lot to learn from a tactical point of view, there are so many things they can learn.
Source: ChelseaFC.com.
Perfection is scoring six and giving away nothing, not even a real chance. We're part way there but still some distance from what we want to be, which is a terrifying monster that crushes all in our path. And there's minimal room for error ahead of the most difficult fixture of the season. And if you want to hear about how Mourinho will approach that one ...
... you'll be a little disappointed because he essentially says 'like a game of football.'
The game is unpredictable and you don’t know what is going to happen. If we have the ball, thank you very much, that’s what we want. If they have the ball we have to defend and play on the counter-attack.
It depends on the direction of the game but, at the moment, our team is capable of being comfortable in both situations. If we have to defend and counter-attack we have the ammunition for that; if we have the ball and control of the game, we have the qualities for that.
I'm not entirely sure I agree with the manager that we really have the qualities to soak up pressure and play on the counterattack. Mostly our version of soaking up pressure involves making Thibaut Courtois yell at everyone after making a miracle save or conceding a goal. Yes, if we start defending better, we're in great shape on the counter, especially with Eden Hazard in great form, but until then I'd rather we work on Plan A.
Although, come to think of it, it'd be fairly Mourinho to deliberately let his team look open and weak to lure City into coming at us so he could punch them in the face repeatedly with their guard down.