Jose Mourinho says Chelsea must learn how to solve opponents who throw 10 men behind the ball or miss out on the English Premier League title again.
The Chelsea manager said his side fell short in last season’s league race because of the lack of final-third quality.
New recruits Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa should help solve that problem, with Chelsea opening their league campaign at newly promoted Burnley on Monday.
Mourinho said Chelsea have worked extensively in the pre-season on attacking opponents who set out solely to nullify his side’s offensive threats.
“We have worked on exactly that in training, expecting a team to be defensive and try to close every road to goal,” Mourinho said.
“We need more quality in our football,” he said. “When you have matches with space and time, it’s much easier to play football.
“When you don’t have space and time because a lot of football is based around tactics and systems: i In a very simple way, everything depends on space and time, and when you don’t have space and time to play, you need more quality.”
Dropped points against teams such as Crystal Palace, Norwich City, Aston Villa and Sunderland in the final months of the season proved costly to Mourinho's title ambitions last season as Chelsea fell away from the top spot to eventually finish third, behind Manchester City and Liverpool.
Mourinho’s team face a big test to keep goalkeeping rivals Petr Cech and Thibaut Courtois happy this season, but the coach said he did not foresee similar issues in the midfield. He says Fabregas will offer a new dimension in midfield play to complement a host of box-to-box runners.
The former Real Madrid and Inter Milan manager said none of his midfielders will command automatic selection, but neither will any be out in the cold.
“That is not so tough, because we play 60 matches in a season,” he said. “In this first two weeks, it’s one match a week, but after that starts the cups, the Champions League and the national team. So you have to adapt. Nobody will feel they are first or second choice.”
Sean Dyche, the Burnley manager, says he hopes the experience of being a surprise package to earn promotion can stand his players in good stead for the tests to come.
Looking back to the 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic in April that clinched a top-two finish in the Championship, the manager said: “There were some big games last year, people forget that.
“We played Wigan and delivered a fantastic performance, and that’s probably the biggest game these players have played in a long time.
“It’s fair to say the first one against Chelsea, massive club, coming to Turf Moor under the lights with the TV cameras, that’s a big game in itself.
“So it’s how the players respond. We work hard on the training pitch to allow them the chance to deliver when that moment comes.”
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