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Mourinho had spent a couple of months looking more relaxed in press conferences. After the Málaga game, he came back into his own self and criticized the team for what they had done in the first half.
I told them at halftime: 'You've already created the trash. Now you got to clean it up.'
Ask the players. We've changed the attitude and tempo. The question is: Why didn't we do that in the first half? I will try to answer this while making my players answering it as well. The result is short after what we saw in the second half.
Mourinho refused the chance to criticize the players subbed at halftime--Arbeloa, Callejón and Kaká-.
No, I told them that it was a shame I couldn't make 11 substitutions at halftime. If I could, I would've done so. I thought about making the substitutions before halftime, but I don't like that. They understood that I was not blaming anybody. The three I put in didn't play worse than the three I took out.
He was worried about how the team would play after a Christmas break.
Málaga has played their game, but with all due respect, we didn't play good. A break is a break. There are players who take Christmas as a time to rest a little bit, and there are other players that spent these days eating in his father's house, in his uncle's house, in his grandparent's house, eating and drinking and they come back a little bit... different. I'm glad for this game because if you give me the choice of which game I want to lose, I would always choose the Cup one. I would've preferred to lose this game instead of Granada's.
Mourinho will be back in press conference for the Granada game. He's expected to speak to the media this Friday.