Jose Mourinho: 'I wanted to substitute six Chelsea players against Newcastle'

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has admitted that he wanted to haul off six of his players in the first half of his side's Premier League match against Newcastle United on Saturday.

The English champions went a goal down in the first 45 minutes, and conceded another after the half-time break before Ramires and Willian struck to give the Blues a 2-2 draw at St James' Park.

After the match, Mourinho was critical of his players' first-half performance and admitted that he would have taken off the majority of his team if he could have.

"I did not know which decisions to make," the Daily Star quotes Mourinho as saying. "There were six players I could have taken off. I wanted to make six substitutions. That is how bad we were."

Branislav Ivanovic, Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard have faced criticism for not being up to par in the early stages of the season.