Jose Mourinho Criticises Chelsea Players' 1st-Half Performance vs. Newcastle

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho did not mince his words when he berated his side for their poor first-half performance against Newcastle United on Saturday.

According to Sky Sports (h/t Goal.com's Chris Davie), he pulled no punches in his assessment of their display, saying, "In the first half, from zero to 10, [Chelsea were] minus one. It was that bad."

He added:

"

The second half was really good. I'm very happy with the second half, really disappointed with the first half. And I have to try to understand why one team can play so bad in one half and so well in another one. In every aspect in the first half we were bad. Poor individual performances, too many. As a consequence of that it's impossible for a team to be a good, competitive team.

"

Newcastle lead at half-time thanks to a lovely Ayoze Perez strike shortly before the break, as the Spaniard capitalised on some dreadful defending from the Blues to squirm away from the sleeping Kurt Zouma and Branislav Ivanovic.

Georginio Wijnaldum headed home a corner completely unmarked by Cesc Fabregas after an hour, before goals from substitutes Ramires and Willian salvaged a point for the visitors.

Mourinho is right to be livid with the first half, in which the Magpies had more shots, completed more take-ons and created more than twice as many chances as their illustrious opponents, according to Squawka Football.

Chelsea's defending was exceedingly poor, which as Squawka Football demonstrates is a recurring theme this season:

Some further context on their opponents gives an even more damning indictment.

Winless Newcastle went into the game 19th in the Premier League having scored just three goals and conceded nine in their six matches, and confidence would surely have been rock bottom on the back of a defeat at home to Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup.

The second-half was—Wijnaldum's goal aside—far more encouraging for Chelsea, who were without Diego Costa as he served the second of his three-match ban.

Up next in the league for Chelsea are Southampton and Aston Villa, both at Stamford Bridge.

Both would normally be expected to be routine wins, but with the Blues so porous at the back and lacklustre up front, their problems could be set to continue.

The 2-0 victory over Arsenal could have been seen as a turning point in Chelsea's season, but there is clearly much work to be done before they can become the force they were last year.