Chelsea fan Paul Merson hits out at Jose Mourinho for comments about Frank Lampard’s side

Jose Mourinho was “harsh” in his assessment of former club Chelsea on Sunday, claims former Arsenal star and Blues fan Paul Merson.

Mourinho claimed he was still worried about Chelsea despite their fine start to the season.

The Portuguese says games against fellow top six teams have shown weaknesses in Frank Lampard’s young side.

But Merson says the clashes with Manchester United and Liverpool could easily have gone the other way for Chelsea this season.

“I think that’s a bit harsh, Mourinho,” Merson said on The Debate.

“The Man United game at the start of the season, that was never a 4-0 in a month of Sundays, that could have swung either way.

“Liverpool in the Super Cup, I thought Chelsea were just as good as Liverpool that day.

“Ajax are a very good team, very good team. Let’s look at the positive, they were 4-1 down and come back and drawn 4-4, probably should have won the game.

“Man United [in the Carabao Cup], he rested players. Man United probably played their best team and Chelsea rested [players], and it took a worldie goal.

“It doesn’t matter who you are as a manager, if people go and do something special on a football pitch like [Marcus] Rashford did with a 35-yard free kick when Chelsea were getting on top at the time.”

Merson was reacting to comments Jose Mourinho made about Chelsea on Sunday.

“In the first weekend, I was worried and I’m still worried with the big matches,” Mourinho said.

“I think he’s done fantastic work, the kids coming into the team are fitting amazingly well with top class players like Willian and [N’Golo] Kante – it’s really great work by frank.

“But they lost twice against United, they lost against Liverpool at home, they conceded four goals against Ajax. I’m very curious to see Chelsea at the next match at the Etihad.

“I want to see if they have found the balance between the great football they play and the pragmatism they must have to play against top teams.

“When they find that, I think they have a great team for the future but I don’t expect them to finish in the top two but I believe they will finish top four.”

source: express.co.uk