Jose Mourinho Talks Chelsea's Performance, Objectives After Loss vs. Bournemouth

Jose Mourinho thinks the top six is now Chelsea's most realistic objective after his side was beaten 1-0 by Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. It was the eighth defeat of the season for the defending Premier League champions.

The result has left the Blues a whopping 17 points behind surprise leaders Leicester City. They are also 14 adrift of fourth-placed Manchester United, per the league's official site.

So Mourinho is revising the requirements for a successful season, according to the league's official Twitter:

If he sounds worried, it's with good reason. Substitute Glenn Murray's winner for Bournemouth made an unwelcome piece of history for Chelsea:

It also continued the demise of strong home form, once a Mourinho staple, as noted by MisterChip:

Mourinho found time to lament another refereeing decision he felt went against his team, although he did make a thinly veiled attempt to bottle the edge of his comments, per Squawka News:

He also bemoaned the legality of Bournemouth's winner, according to Chelsea's official Twitter:

Where Mourinho focused his ire was on his side's inability to put away chances:

This might have been a reference to misfiring centre-forward Diego Costa. He started on the bench after Mourinho had recently called on him to anticipate chances better, per the Guardian's Dominic Fifield.

But the Portuguese gaffer now insists he's happy with his strikers, even though Costa drew a blank after coming on as a second-half substitute:

Despite his team's struggles, Mourinho insists he will continue to do all he can to arrest the slide:

His efforts apparently won't include a major influx of new faces in the January transfer window:

But it's difficult to see this Chelsea squad getting out of the mire without some fresh impetus from elsewhere, whether at the playing or coaching level.

Rescuing the season now looks like a very daunting task. It's one that's going to start in a pivotal UEFA Champions League match. To some, the game already looks like D-day for Mourinho:

What began as a tame start to the season has quickly snowballed into a full-blown crisis. This is unprecedented pressure for Mourinho.

How he reacts will not only determine his future at Stamford Bridge, it will also impact his standing as one of the most highly regarded managers in the game.