London, Aug 9 (IANS) Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was pleased with how his side performed, but admitted that they struggled after going down to 10 men in the defending champions’ 2-2 draw match against Swansea in the English Premier league.
“We played very well until we played with 10 men,” Mourinho told Sky Sports after the match on Saturday.
“In the first half we played with high quality. In our game with 10 men we fought hard for a long time. It was not five, 10 minutes, they fought hard. We played very well in the first half, the game was under control, the players were playing with more and more confidence. Oscar was playing a lot, Willian as well. The midfield was confident.”
Swansea came from behind twice to secure a point against the champions. For Swansea Andre Ayew scored on his debut and Bafetimbi Gomis converted a penalty. Chelsea’s goals were scored by Oscar and a Federico Fernandez own goal at the Stamford Bridge ground.
Chelsea went down to 10 men after goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was shown the red card for a foul inside the box, 10 minutes after the break.
“Then after the penalty, red card, goal, everything is different. We fought hard, in some moments we had to defend and fight hard and not to lose the game. In other moments of that period with the set-pieces, counter-attack we could have scored a goal. The game was open,” Mourinho said.
