Jose Mourinho's Chelsea Players Show Their Fighting Spirit in Newcastle Comeback

ST JAMES' PARK, NEWCASTLE — Marking his players as being minus-one out of 10 for their first-half performance against Newcastle United on Saturday, Jose Mourinho couldn't hide his frustration about another sour trip to the north east.

Yet if that first-half display really was the worst performance he had seen from any Chelsea team he has managed, the late comeback from two goals down was also among one of the best we have seen from a Mourinho team.

With 79 minutes on the clock, Chelsea were dead and buried until a moment of inspiration from Ramires halved the deficit, with Willian's fortuitous free-kick drawing them level seven minutes later.

Indeed, had Pedro Rodriguez not skied his effort when through on goal and Ramires scored a late header, we could be talking about a Chelsea win.

It all seemed highly unlikely as they trailed at the break, their misery compounded further on the hour with more lax marking allowing Georginio Wijnaldum to head home to add to Ayoze Perez's earlier goal.

We saw the best and worst of Chelsea at St James' Park, but given the spirit Mourinho's players showed, it shouldn't be all doom and gloom.

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At two down, they could have given up and accepted defeat. They didn't.

Instead, Mourinho's men chased this game down, and despite it not ending with maximum points in their favour, they have gone some way to making amends for an uninspiring first period.

"I have played so many matches with Chelsea over seven years that we had some bad performances," Mourinho lamented.

"I remember one at Middlesbrough in 2006, we were losing at half-time 2-0. We have had a few, but this first half I can rate as one of the worst performances."

Despite that negative, Bleacher Report asked the Chelsea boss if he thought it was a positive sign that his team had clawed their way back to earn a point given the circumstances.

After all, back in August when things were going against Chelsea and the team lacked any real inspiration, a comeback like the one we saw against Newcastle never seemed likely. Heads seemed to drop too easily in those early games, and the players didn't appear capable of reacting.

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The manager seemed more concerned with that first-half display, though.

"I don’t know [if we would have lost this game a month ago]. I have a lot to think about the first half. The second half is a positive thinking. I prefer to think about the negative first half.” 

Mourinho should heed the warning of that opening 45 minutes, yet this result was a positive one.

If we're crunching numbers, we can point to Chelsea being a point better off than they were after their visit to St James' Park last season. And any questions about the motivation of this team have surely been put to bed.

Their form isn't what we expect from champions, but these players continue to play for their manager. The past 10 days or so, starting with the 4-0 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv, have marked a change.

Mourinho himself has spoken with more authority; he's led his players from the front, beating the drum by being more visible on the touchline. He's even taken to watching their pre-match warm-ups with a closer attention to detail.

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It's all been in aid of them rediscovering the intensity that carried them to success last season. It's returning, game by game, which the draw with Newcastle shows.

On paper, it looks poor. Steve McClaren's side has won just a single match all season, coming against League 2 Northampton Town in the Capital One Cup.

They've looked woeful in the Premier League and came into this game having been dumped out of the League Cup by Sheffield Wednesday's reserves.

Their spirited display went against the form book, and Chelsea almost paid the price for it but had enough to recover.

"I think that maybe one of the reasons Newcastle over the years doesn't get good positions is because of this mentality," said Mourinho.

"They choose some matches to sweat blood and on other matches they don't. ... If they play like this, they win many matches at home and they don’t. This is their problem."

Given the way they performed in a fiery 2-0 win against Arsenal a week earlier, we could have said the same for Chelsea had they lost by the same scoreline to the Magpies.

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This performance was far removed from how Chelsea had dominated their London rivals, playing with more desire and intensity in order to suffocate them.

In large parts, that was missing against Newcastle. Eventually, however, Chelsea would sweat as much blood as the home side.

It was far from pretty in the process—in fact, it was downright frustrating given what we know this team is capable of achieving—although they came away with something.

Poor performances are easier to deal with than a demoralised dressing room, which gives Mourinho just one problem to contend with.

Right now, he can focus on ironing out tactical issues rather than massaging bruised egos.

Chelsea missed out on a big opportunity given Manchester City's collapse against Tottenham Hotspur a few hours earlier. That shouldn't deter them, though.

They haven't lost their character. Yet.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes