Chelsea were dreadful on Saturday night as they were blitzed by Southampton who ran out as deserved 3-1 winners in SW6.
Southampton were excellent, but Chelsea, who fell to 16th in the Premier League table – 10 points behind overnight leaders Manchester City – generously supported the Saints in their successful bid for a first win at Stamford Bridge since 2002.
After witnessing his side be outplayed by a team who finished 27 points below them in the league last season – the Saints are now four points ahead – Jose Mourinho had no reasonable excuse for Chelsea’s sixth defeat of the season.
Nevertheless, in incredibly tired and embarrassing fashion, the Blues manager opted to point his finger at the referee, again.
“The referees are afraid to give decisions for Chelsea,” Mourinho whinged to BBC Sport. “At 1-1, it is a huge penalty and once again we don’t get it.
“The penalty is a crucial moment in the game with the result 1-1.”
The incident Mourinho was referring to saw Radamel Falcao shown a yellow card by Robert Madley for simulation on 57 minutes – shortly before Sadio Mane scored to put Southampton 2-1 up.
Mourinho’s rant continued: “If the Football Association wants to punish me they can. They don’t punish other managers. My players deserve it, Chelsea fans deserve it. I am a Chelsea fan too.
“Referees are afraid to give decisions for Chelsea. Why? Because there is always a question mark from you [the media] and always a critic so we are always punished.
“We are punished because Diego Costa is suspended with images. In other matches we see the same things and it doesn’t happen.
“Clear penalties are not given. Even in the Champions League in a match we lose 2-1, we are not given a penalty in the last minute.
“The penalty in this game is more than crucial because my team, at the moment, the first negative thing that happens… they collapse. Mentally, psychologically, the team is unbelievably down.
“The penalty was a giant penalty and he was afraid to give [it] like everyone else is afraid to give [it]. After that the team lost even more confidence. The team mentally tried but they collapsed. They are in such a low moment that they collapsed.”
Despite Mourinho insisting that Falcao was fouled by Maarten Stekelenburg, replays have since shown that the Colombian striker was already heading to ground when the Saints goalkeeper collided with him.
To make Mourinho look even more idiotic, two more replays – both of which are included in fanatix’s eight-second summary below – show that Chelsea had lucky escapes with two Southampton penalty appeals.
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