I left out Hazard because we are conceding lots of goals,’ said the Portuguese. ‘We need to defend better. We need our midfielders to be just worried in the central area of the pitch, not worrying about compensating on the left or right.
‘Playing with Willian and Pedro, the midfielders don’t have to move left or right. They know those parts are controlled. Pedro and Willian did amazing work. It was leaving super-quality on the bench, but bringing tactical discipline.’
Mourinho insisted it was all about the team. Cahill was left out so that Kurt Zouma could deal with the aerial power of Rudy Gestede and although Ruben Loftus-Cheek was handed his first start of the Premier League season, he was replaced at half-time.
‘This is not a moment to moan or try to be selfish,’ said Mourinho. ‘This is a moment for the team, just the team, and nothing else. When we have better confidence levels then we’ll go back to where we were.’
