Jose admits Chelsea lack title edge as his strikers fail to impress in Stoke defeat.

Jose Mourinho fears Chelsea lack the firepower to be Barclays Premier League champions and are saddled with a strikeforce inferior to those of all their title rivals.
Mourinho could not hide his frustration after seeing his forwards draw another blank in an error-strewn defeat at Stoke. 
Chelsea were kept in it by two goals from Andre Schurrle, which elevated him to fourth in Chelsea’s list of Premier League scorers on three goals, behind fellow midfielders Frank Lampard (4), Oscar (5) and Eden Hazard (6).

January transfer: Jose Mourinho insists his side need more firepower up front to win the title

He has to glance over his shoulder for any sign of a striker, Samuel Eto’o sharing fifth place with John Terry on two goals. Fernando Torres and Demba Ba have  managed one apiece.
As Mourinho also considered the number of players aged 30-plus left behind by a rapid turnover of previous managers, he delivered a reality check to those who assumed his return would see the title automatically follow him to Stamford Bridge.
Privately, he has made no secret of his misgivings about his strikers and concerns over whether owner Roman Abramovich will fund his transfer ambitions. A testy question-and-answer session outside Stoke’s press room made it clear he feels he inherited a squad ill-equipped for the title race:

Jose Mourinho: We didn't kill the game off

How much tinkering needs doing? 
I work with the players from day one to last day, I try to improve them, I try to improve the team and the style of the team. We have to try and improve the players we have. If players are coming now or at the end of the season, it will probably be the end of the season, because it is more normal.

Bad defending: Andre Schurrle scored twice for Chelsea but his goals weren't enough

Are you happy with the squad? 
For good and bad it is my squad. It is not perfect but I work with them until the last day.
You said you didn’t know how you can get the strikers to score. Isn’t that a worry? 
The strikers try the best they can, so I don’t know what to do. 
Isn’t that a problem? 
If you tell me Aguero has scored already 10 or 12 goals,  Negredo 10 or 12 goals, Dzeko four or five, Rooney eight or 10, Giroud eight or 10, Sturridge eight or 10, Suarez 10 or 12, if you ask me would I like my strikers to score eight, 10, 12 goals, yes. If we had eight, 10, 12 goals (from the strikers) we would be top of the league. But my strikers give everything. We keep working. That’s the only way I know.

Ill-tempered: Mark Hughes and Mourinho exchange words on the sidelines

Would you like an Aguero, Sturridge or Suarez? 
They are not my players. 
Presumably you would like them playing for you... 
I don’t answer to that. They are good players, everyone knows.
In the second half, the game became stretched — are you happy with that? 
No. I am happy with the first half. I told the players at half-time that we played fantastic. The result is s***, but we played fantastic and have to try to play the second half the same way. But the game was changed. They (Stoke) did it in quite an intelligent way — everybody at the back, long balls in front, making fouls and waiting for us to put long balls up. After that, some of our guys were too emotional and started putting long balls in the box.

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You looked frustrated even when winning. 
We were killing them (at 1-0). Hazard was creating, Mata passing, Schurrle passing and moving. They could not live with it and we were having  dozens of half-chances, but if you don’t score you are in trouble because they scored even without doing anything. The first goal is too bad. 
You said you won’t criticise your players, but you cannot afford any more defeats... 
What do I win by criticising my players? I win nothing. 
But you need to improve them? 
A: That’s what I try to, but it is one thing to improve a player who is 20, which you can. Can you improve Hazard? Yes. Can I improve a player who is 30? How?

Too little, too late: Mourinho tries to encourage his troops after Stoke score their winning goal

How do you avoid another defeat in the league, if you want to win it?
Who told you we are the first (top) contender to win the league?
You don’t think you are? 
I don’t think we are. We are one of the six teams that are contenders. While other teams have conditions to say ‘we are on top of our game’ in terms of maturity, squad,  balance in positions, we are a team playing different than we did in the past.
Remember, in the past two years this team finished 24 points behind the leaders and finished 14 points behind the leaders. You are not speaking about my team being champions last year or one or two points behind. We are building a team, a style of play with the  players we have and of course we want the best results.

Excitement: Oussama Assaidi throws off his shirt after scoring the spectacular winner past Petr Cech

So it could be a long process? 
I cannot say. 
Do you need some of the old, pragmatic Chelsea style? 
Different players, different phase in the club, different objectives. We don’t have the same players, we don’t want to play the same style we played.

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