Mourinho let rip on Sky Sports after the defending champions lost 2-1 to top-of-the-table Leicester, claiming last season's success was down to his "phenomenal" work bringing his players "to a level they aren’t really at".

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Highlights from his interview with Patrick Davidson:

'I feel my work was betrayed'

Asked for his thoughts, Mourinho wasted no time in attacking his players.

He said: "We concede two goals that are unacceptable for me. I know my best quality is to read the opponents for my players and to identify every detail and these two goals - with the movement of (Jamie) Vardy between the two central defenders and then (Riyad) Mahrez one-against-one when I want one-against-two - are difficult to accept.

"I feel my work was betrayed."

'Last season I took them to a level that is not their level'

"When you have some players in crucial positions not playing at a normal level, it is difficult.

"All last season I did phenomenal work and I took them to a level that is not their level. It's more than they really are.

"It’s not all of them, of course, but clearly for some of them it is more difficult (to reach that level again)".

'Eden Hazard decided within 10 seconds he was going to come off'

Hazard went down injured in the first half, tried to continue but quickly concluded he could not play on.

Mourinho said, appearing to border on sarcasm: "The only thing I know is in 10 seconds he made the decision himself. It must be a serious injury as he made the decision himself and just left the pitch."

Chelsea's Eden Hazard goes off injured as manager Jose Mourinho looks on Image credit: Reuters

'Diego Costa is in trouble in the box'

Mourinho was critical of striker Diego Costa, specifically accusing him of failing to get into scoring positions inside the penalty area.

"We put on an extra midfield player, then an extra striker, because clearly Diego (Costa) is in trouble in the box. Normally his movement is outside the box, so I tried to bring (Loic) Remy in to have another body there."

'Ball boys were a disgrace'

Mourinho accused Leicester of timewasting after Chelsea pulled a goal back to make it 2-1.

"We we scored a goal with 15 minutes to go, but it was almost five because of the ballboys, the injuries, the ball disappearing and all this stuff. It's not nice, but they did it very well."

He later called the ball boys: "A disgrace to the Premier League."

Chelsea's Diego Costa squares up to Leicester's Jamie Vardy Image credit: Reuters

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