What's the matter with Chelsea's defense?

Shameless Hans wrote:Ivanovic, Terry and Mikel lol. Doesn't sound like Mourinho has identified them as a problem like most of you have.
Or is he paying them lip service before he drops them?

He probably mentions those players because they show the attitude and motivation in training. The problem with them being his star pupils is that two are declining due to age and one has never been that important.

If you want to motivate the people working for you, you have to find a way to become close to them one way or another. Mourinho seems incapable of that. Maybe Terry, Ivanovic and Mikel show the attitude Mourinho wants to see, but he needs to figure out how to motivate the actually important players.

Branislav Ivanovic's game by numbers vs Porto:

10 misplaced passes
10 tackles attempted
1 tackle won
0 aerial duels won
0 crosses completed