Manuel Pellegrini branded Chelsea “a small team” for their defensive tactics in the league leaders’ 1-1 draw against Manchester City on Sunday.
Frank Lampard came off the bench to level for City against his former club, for whom Andre Schurrle had opened the scoring.
City had right-back Pablo Zabaleta sent off when the game was still goalless, but manager Pellegrini was more concerned by Chelsea's negative approach and he compared the visitors to Stoke City, who won 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium in August.
He said: “I am not satisfied with the result. I think we played against a small team trying to defend. I think we played against exactly the same team we played against Stoke here.”
Jose Mourinho responded by implying Pellegrini was guilty of double standards for discussing Chelsea when claiming he only comments about his own side. The Chelsea manager said: “Pellegrini many times says he never speaks about me and my team, but he keeps doing the same thing.”
Despite losing a lead against a team with only 10 men, the Portuguese said he was pleased with the result.
“We come here to a super-difficult stadium and a super-difficult opponent and we leave to better conditions than we arrived, so good,” he said.
Referee Mike Dean showed nine yellow cards, two of them to Zabaleta for a first-half challenge on Eden Hazard and a second-half incident with Diego Costa.
Then Chelsea replacement Schurrle put his side ahead after a cross from Eden Hazard.
In a match of two scoring substitutes, Lampard struck back, levelling by volleying in James Milner’s cross.
It was his first goal for City, while the veteran had left Chelsea in the summer after 13 years and 211 goals in 648 games.
Pellegrini praised 36-year-old Lampard: “He is a very good player and a great professional, so I am very happy with him. It was very important for our team to have a player with the experience and quality of Frank Lampard.”
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