Mourinho anger drives Chelsea on

Chelsea FC's fightback for a 1-1 draw at Manchester United FC followed a half-time dressing-down by boss José Mourinho, who said his players were doing nothing to win Sunday's top-of-the-table Premiership encounter.

Second best
The English title-holders were second best in the first half and trailed by a 29th-minute goal from France striker Louis Saha, before rallying to claim a deserved point through Ricardo Carvalho's headed equaliser. "At half-time, I said to my players that no more than two or three of them were performing at a high level. One was Ashley Cole, who was unbelievable, like Ricardo Carvalho," Mourinho said.

Dramatic effect
"I said to my players, the biggest frustration for me in football is not when I lose but when you do nothing to win and in the first half we didn't play well. I told them 'don't be afraid to lose, be afraid to go home with a bad feeling and the bad feeling comes when you play nothing'." Mourinho's pep talk had a dramatic effect as Chelsea started to take the game to the league leaders.

'Mental aspect'
"What was wrong in the first half was the mental aspect, maybe waiting for things to happen, maybe happy just to control the game and not showing a lot of ambition," continued Mourinho. "United were faster on the ball and winning more second balls. In the second half it was completely the opposite. It looked a new game. It was a fair result. When the game finished, I exchanged a few words with Sir Alex [Ferguson] and we immediately agreed."

'Delighted'
Sir Alex, whose side head the standings by three points from the Londoners, added: "I think we were the better team today but Chelsea do take credit, they don't stop fighting." Looking at the championship race, he went on: "There won't be a lot in it, hopefully we can do it but the title is a long way to go and mistakes can be made. I'm just delighted the players have shown their ability today and shown they deserve to be where they are." Both clubs return to UEFA Champions League duty next week. United need a point at home to SL Benfica to reach the knockout stage, while Chelsea host PFC Levski Sofia having already qualified and hoping to seal first place in their group.