Mourinho Still Finds Fault

Chelsea thrashed Real Betis last night to extend their unbeaten run and make it 13 goals in three matches but Jose Mourinho was still not entirely content. In a show of the perfectionism that has made him so successful, the Chelsea manager found fault with his team's early defending.

Betis had caused difficulties for the home team initially, not least from set plays, and could have gone ahead before Didier Drogba sent Chelsea on their way. That was advanced by Mourinho when he was asked whether he could find fault in this emphatic win.

"We had no problems at set pieces when we played against Liverpool and Bolton, who had players of 195cm and 190cm and [Peter] Crouch of 2 metres. I don't accept problems at set pieces against Betis [who have] players of 175cm, 178cm and 180cm and only one player over 185cm," he said.

Mourinho was happy, though, with the result, which leaves his team close to qualification for the next stage. The suggestion Chelsea are boring seems a distant memory after last night's performance followed the 4-1 win at Liverpool and the 5-1 defeat of Bolton.

"Maybe in future we will go back to a period where we don't score any goals," the manager said, "but I think now everybody knows we want to score goals. We like to always win and, if possible, we like to score goals. This result was a consequence of 2-0 at half-time. In the second half they tried but gave us a lot of space and we scored two more and could have scored four or five."

He confirmed that Didier Drogba, who went off with a knee injury, could be fit to play at Everton on Sunday and showered the impressive Michael Essien with praise. "For me he was man of the match," Mourinho said. "He won every challenge, gave a good pace to our game, recovered a high percentage of balls and was crucial on the first and third goals. He was too powerful for them."

He described this as Essien's best performance since his transfer from Lyon. "I remember a great game he played at home but I think this game was a more complete one."

Nevertheless Mourinho noted that Essien ought to have set up Hernán Crespo late on when he opted to shoot. He is a hard man to satisfy.