{"id":1101281,"date":"2019-08-12T17:58:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T16:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1101281"},"modified":"2019-08-12T17:58:09","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T16:58:09","slug":"chelsea-azpilicueta-mount-mourinho-criticism","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/chelsea-azpilicueta-mount-mourinho-criticism\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea captain Azpilicueta chimes in with Mount defence following Mourinho criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cesar Azpilicueta has joined a growing band of Chelsea\u00a0affiliates to defend Mason Mount after Jose Mourinho questioned the young midfielder’s performance against Manchester United.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mount made his competitive first-team debut for the Blues at Old Trafford on Sunday but saw his side thrashed 4-0 by a rampant Man Utd.<\/p>\n

Mourinho’s comments: Five things to know…<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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  • Lampard took charge of his first competitive Chelsea match on Sunday.<\/li>\n
  • The record-goalscorer decided to omit a number of experienced players from his starting XI.<\/li>\n
  • This drew backlash from Mourinho, who questioned the inclusion of Mount and\u00a0Tammy Abraham.<\/li>\n
  • Lampard responded by suggesting Chelsea were the better side and hence, his team selection was vindicated.<\/li>\n
  • Azpilicueta has also chimed in with a defence of his own, stating that the duo “deserve” to be in the first-team.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    https:\/\/audioboom.com\/posts\/7336082-10-predictions-for-the-2019-20-premier-league-season<\/p>\n

    The 20-year-old started in the No. 10 position, while the likes of\u00a0N\u2019Golo Kante,\u00a0Marcos Alonso and\u00a0Olivier Giroud took their place on the bench, sparking criticism from Mourinho in the immediate aftermath.<\/p>\n

    The ex-Chelsea manager probed Lampard’s decision to choose youth over experience in such an important match, but\u00a0Azpilicueta has since leapt to his boss’ defence, insisting the likes of Mount\u00a0“deserve” to be in the first-team.<\/p>\n

    “If they are here it is because they deserve to be,” said<\/a> Azpilicueta. “They are fighting in every training session. We trust in them.<\/p>\n

    “All the boys, they train to play for the Chelsea first team since they were young and now we have a massive opportunity to create a fantastic group, to learn from every game.<\/p>\n

    “Obviously everyone would like to start in a better way but we have to face the reality and become stronger from it.”<\/p>\n