Chelsea's Jose Mourinho blames back line's bad luck for loss against Sunderland

SIX goals conceded in their past two matches does not make happy reading for Chelsea’s defence. And what does the manager think of it? “Even the dummies would score against us in training right now,” said Jose Mourinho.

Manager Jose Mourinho says that Chelsea's defence are experiencing some bad luck [GETTY]

The Blues let in three in their win at Sunderland last week, and then crashed to a 3-2 defeat at Stoke at the weekend – after taking an early lead.

It was a week typical of Chelsea’s up and down season so far: some sublime football, some dominating performances – and then slip-ups in games they should be winning.

On the eve of tonight’s Champions League clash at home against Steaua Bucharest, in which victory would see Chelsea finish top of Group E, Mourinho refused to concede that his team are in trouble.

But, as he remarkably admitted this squad are not good enough to win the Champions League, he insisted his back line are simply having no luck at the moment.

Mourinho said Chelsea needed to score more goals after their loss to Stoke City with a 3-2 score [ACTION IMAGES]

Mourinho said: “Maybe you laugh, but if we practised defensive corners against the dummies at the moment, one dummy would score. All the rebounds are going to the opponents right now. So I think the rebounds would go to the dummies as well.

“I didn’t see defensive mistakes against Sunderland. I analysed the game for an hour, going over every incident, but we did nothing wrong. The ball bounces here and there, and then it goes in. So, obviously, I didn’t want to train against the dummies.”

The ‘dummies’ are the tall, two-dimensional training aids shaped like human figures, which football clubs around the world use to practise bending the ball for free-kicks and corners. They are rarely expected to score, although the old joke about poor teams in football is that they played a practice game against the dummies – and the dummies won.

Mourinho, though, insisted he will not change the way his attack-minded side are playing and go back the old ways of shutting teams out.

He criticised his forwards after the Stoke loss, but said yesterday: “We are creating a lot. But we have to kill off opponents. Am I going to change the style and play a more defensive style? No. We go in the same direction. It’s much more difficult to play offensive, creative football. It’s easy to play defensively.

“We have three strikers, which is the perfect number, and they are working very well for the team. But the number of goals is not the number I want or they want. Four goals between them in the league is not enough to make me happy or them happy.”

Some Chelsea footballers practicing with the tall dummy player training aids [GETTY]

The number of goals is not the number I want or they want. Four goals between them in the league is not enough to make me happy or them happy

Jose Mourinho

Mourinho will make changes as he rotates his squad against a Steaua side who cannot qualify, while Chelsea have already guaranteed their progress.

Ashley Cole comes in following six weeks on the sidelines, and both Oscar and David Luiz return after injury.

Mourinho insisted Cole, 32, will still get a new contract at the end of this season. “Even if you’re not playing every game, it does not mean you are not deserving of a new contract,” he said. “Ashley is fine and in this match he is going to show he is fine.

“Can he recover his position 100 per cent? I don’t know. But he will always play and he will always be a good player. Naturally, he will get his contract because he’s a valuable player. The way he behaves and trains, he is a super professional – as always.”

Cole yesterday tweeted a picture of himself with the logo “Who You Calling Done?” He added: “Seven FA Cups, three league titles, an undefeated season. I’m still not done.”