Mourinho: People love Chelsea to lose

An opening day draw to Swansea and a heavy 3-0 defeat at Manchester City represented Chelsea’s worst start to a Premier League season for 17 years heading into the game, but the Blues managed to record a 3-2 victory against a battling West Brom.
Debutant Pedro opened the scoring before assisting Diego Costa for the second, with James Morrison atoning for an earlier penalty miss by clawing one back for the Baggies.
The second half brought a controversial red card for John Terry, with Cesar Azpilicueta ensuring Morrison’s second was in vain as the Blues held on for all three points.
Speaking after the game, Mourinho felt his side “deserved” the victory, insisting that others would be “disappointed” that the champions did not succumb to pressure from the home side.
“Many people in this moment are disappointed in this result,” Mourinho told BBC Sport. “People love Chelsea to lose a game.
“The performance was not dramatic, not bad but obviously four points in three matches is not enough. It’s our first step, three points. There is a feeling we are fighting against a lot but today we won.
“We deserved it,’ he added, speaking to the club’s official website. “It was difficult but we deserved it.
“3-1 was short with 11 against 11, and with the chances we created, the space we found, and the way we attacked their defensive line.
“Then with one player less – we are getting experience of that – we adapted well but they scored to make it 3-2. We had the best chances to score the next goal.
“I’m happy we controlled the game well, and I’m happy with the spirit because the players really wanted to win.”
Mourinho reserved particular praise for inspirational new signing Pedro, who starred after joining in a £21.4million deal earlier in the week.
“He’s a very good player. There is always a question mark because of how many top players come to England and don’t perform immediately.
“We have examples in our club and there are lots of examples at other clubs, so it’s very nice for him to come and straight away perform the way he did.
“I expected him to perform like that because he had a good pre-season, and he played three competitive matches. He came with minutes, with intensity, so it was not a question of intensity and condition, it was a question of understanding.
“We worked tactically every day since he arrived for him to try understand the team and for the team to try to understand what he wants and needs. It was a very good performance.”
Mourinho refused to discuss Terry’s 53rd minute sending off – the club’s second red card of the season after Thibaut Courtois’ vs. Swansea – for bringing down West Brom striker Salomon Rondon when through on goal, but revealed that his side have begun partaking in “10 against 11” situations in training.
“I prefer to focus on us. To speak about the sending off I have to speak about many other things in the game – some you can see, others we can see, so many things.
“I have to do what is in my hands which is to train. We have to train 10 against 11. We have done it a couple of times already in Canada. We have to do it more because we have to know what to do with 10 men when you are winning, or losing, or chasing a result.
“The difference between today and Swansea was exactly that. Against Swansea we had 10 and we wanted to change the result, and today we had 10 and we wanted to keep the result. We must have clear ideas about it so it’s something we have to do in training, and that is the only thing in our hands.”