Chelsea assistant coach Jody Morris has dismissed Jose Mourinho's suggestion that they could struggle to perform against the Premier League's top clubs.
The 56-year-old, who led Chelsea during two spells from 2004 to 2007 and 2013 to 2015, believes Frank Lampard's side lack the 'pragmatism' required to challenge for the title this season.
And Lampard's right-hand man has responded to Mourinho's comments by tweeting: 'Jose's still worried', accompanied by three laughing face emojis.
Chelsea may have recorded their sixth consecutive league victory against Crystal Palace but Mourinho still harbours a number of doubts about Lampard's team.
The Blues beat Palace 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday to move up to third, level on points with second-placed Leicester and eight points behind leaders Liverpool.
However, Mourinho believes a top-two finish will be a step too far.
'In the first weekend, I was worried and I am still worried,' he said during Sky's Premier League coverage on Sunday.
'I think fantastic work - the kids that are coming to the team are fitting amazingly well with the top class players like Willian and (N'Golo) Kante.
'Really great work by Frank but they have lost twice against Manchester United, they lost against Liverpool at home, they conceded four goals against Ajax and I am very curious to see Chelsea in the next match at the Etihad because I think I am curious to see if they found that great empathy between the good football they play and the pragmatism they must have to play against the top teams.
'When they find that I think they have a great team for the future. I don't think they have it in them to finish in the top two - but I believe very seriously that they will finish top four.'
Mozilla30
910
We are slowly finding the right balance. At the beginning of the season Mount was playing as a winger something he could do only for a short time while waiting for Callum to recover and Pulisic to get himself together. Zouma/Tomori partnership now starting to flourish and Pulisic clicking into gear, Kante return to full fitness, Reece James taking his place in RB l think there is no reason why Chelsea fans should be excited about this team cos up till now we are still unpredictable and we can only get better no doubt about it. Our away form of late has been excellent so l see no reason why Man City should be more wary of Chelsea instead of us. With a whole week occupied by the international break it will give enough time for Lamps and the coaching staff to come up with a plan against City.. Up the Chels 💪💙
AdvaitKulkarni
520
Mouriniho said 1.Manchester united will struggle against small team (with lower blocks), 2.United will be good against big sides with no lower blocks (they have beaten chelsea twice, Leicester,draw against liverpool ) 3.Mctominay is gem of player (he is proving that right) 4. United will be great in defence with CB , united is better at the back now 5.rashford isnt a centre forword, rashy is left sided forword ....rashy is flourishing right now in that role, 6. he said abhrahim is great striker and chelsea wont suffer by the transfer ban and hazard loss this man knows what he is talking and if he thinks chelsea will lose against top 6 sides then chelsea will struggle against them
Baeaceimsu
308
mou has spoken well and I think lampard should take this as a big and cherished advice,our performance against big side is worrisome and without that we cant maintain where we are,our style of play is fantastic something we never expected even under mr sarri,but at d same time beautiful football doesn't win games all d time,we need to be more flexible and pragmatic to win some games ,we have a beautiful squad and they can only get better,Mourinho is our boss we will never forget and his advice should be welcomed all d time. let's live those that still love the club not those that hate us no matter what.chelsea is a great club and Lampard has come to stay for a long time .
Nesaiknruy_Legend
171
Tbh hes right and wrong. At the beginning any team that is basically newly formed with 2 or 3 core members should struggle against the top 6 sides that have had their players together for like ever. However as this team builds chemistry, a lot of upsets will come. And an anomaly in his statement is that Chelsea had actually beaten a top side, we beat Ajax away, a team that would easily rank 2nd in the premier league right now with their quality. Chelsea can beat teams in the top 6 but it depends on how the teams Chelsea plays against approaches games against Chelsea and also the circumstances behind the games. The season is still long, there is a lot of big opponents left for Chelsea to play against. We still have Arsenal (H and A), Spurs (H and A), City (H and A), United (H), Liverpool (A). As you can see there is a lot of instances in the future where hopefully with a fit team we can win games against the big opponents. Granted we lost 3 big games so far, there is context behind all the losses. The Liverpool game we already knew the difference in level. The first United game it was an away game at Old Trafford where half the squad was injured and we had Barkley at LW so it was already a lost game. The only game where the team didny get outplayed but still lost from set pieces was United recently and in that game they had i think 1 shot on target all game from open play showing that defensively we were solid for the majority of the game and it came down to individual error rather than being outplayed. Only game recently where we were fully outplayed was Ajax, other than that we have dominated the majority of our games. Only issue we have is clinical edge and organisation against teams with mid block and low block tactics where our attackers need to get more used to playing in between the lines. Otherwise we are doing very well given the circumstances. Big Mou is a pundit now so he has to be a bit controversial but remember his statements are primarily talking about the here and now, not necessarily the future. That's what pundits do, they give reactionary views based on past stats and games. No one can truly know the future....