Arsenal's Gilberto Silva (left) scores his penalty past Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech (right) during their English Premier League soccer match at the Emirates Stadium, London, yesterday. The game ended 1-1. - ReutersLONDON (Reuters):
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho marked the handing over of the Premier League title to Manchester United with a ringing endorsement of his side's fighting spirit yesterday.
However, some members of the squad who have failed to satisfy the trophy-hungry Portuguese coach can start looking for a new career after he made it clear that not everybody at Stamford Bridge had pulled their weight in an injury-ravaged season.
Mourinho had won the title in each of his first English campaigns but now has to take second place to United after a 1-1 draw as Arsenal left Alex Ferguson's side seven points clear with two games remaining.
Chelsea went down fighting as, reduced to 10 men after the sending off of Khalid Boulahrouz as Arsenal went ahead with a penalty late in the first half, they levelled in the 70th minute through Michael Essien and had chances to snatch the win they needed at the death.
"It is the way Chelsea have played all the time, the spirit was the same all season," Mourinho told reporters after the game at the Emirates Stadium.
"Sometimes, when you win a lot, the moment you lose is because you didn't give everything, the commitment is not the same, you are not so hungry to win again and lose some mental competitive qualities. Then you can blame yourself.
"This was the opposite of that. In this club, people gave even more in this season than in the previous two seasons, when there were no injuries, no problems,everything was nice and easy.
Proud
"This season the boys were absolutely fantastic. Maybe I'm prouder today than when we were champions."
Chelsea needed to win to keep the championship alive but were severely limited by the injury absence of key striker Didier Drogba.
"We were playing well but without big ammunition, no strikers, no solutions but then the penalty, red card, a tough time," Mourinho said.
"Everyone thinks it was over but in the last 10 minutes everyone thinks Chelsea are going to win the game.
"This is up to a special group of boys. I told them I love them more than when we won in previous seasons."
No plans to expand
Mourinho said he did not plan to expand his squad next season but that any new arrivals would need to be made of the right stuff.
"This is the perfect game for them to see, to understand the principles of why some people succeed in this group and some don't," he said.
He declined to name the players who have failed his attitude test but Boulahrouz, finally recalled after a seven-week absence despite injuries to other central defenders, is unlikely to be looking for a new home in west London.
Andriy Shevchenko is another whose performances have fallen way short of his reputation, while the constant injury absences of fragile winger Arjen Robben certainly seem to have tried his coach's patience.
As for his own future, Mourinho gave no indication that his apparent fallout with owner Roman Abramovich might mean a parting of ways.
"We still have the FA Cup final to play but what I can guarantee is that next year we will be ready," he said.
"Of course it's difficult, if I want an easy season I can go to a country where it's easy to be champion and win things."
OLD PROBLEM
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said the same old problem of over-elaboration had cost his team victory.
"After we went ahead, we over-dominated," he said. "We were overplaying, over-complicated things in our finishing and Chelsea took advantage," said the Frenchman.
"This season we lost only one game against the top-four teams, which is frustrating and encouraging. The problem for us is to win at Sheffield United and Manchester City."
