In August of 2013 new Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was in a cautious mood. "This is not a team to win tomorrow," said Mourinho. "We are a team of kids, this is a team where the best years are to come." A year later and those years have started. Last season, of course, Chelsea got much closer than Mourinho ever imagined. "We were not feeling like a title contender but in fact we finished very close, so we did well," admitted the boss on Friday. Four points. That was all that separated Chelsea from title winners Manchester City, a side that scored 31 more goals than the Blues. In the end that was the difference. Mourinho had started the season thinking inexperience would be the reason for their failure, but by February he knew it was a lack of goals. During a sponsorship launch with watch manufacturers Hublot, Mourinho, privately, said to senior representatives of the Swiss company: "I have a team but no striker. It is not possible for us to win the Premier League." In the 38 Premier League games last season, Fernando Torres started 17, Samuel Etoo started 16 and Demba Ba five. How Chelsea managed to get so close with three ineffective strikers spoke to the strengths of the squad and, of course, the manager himself. Etoo ended the campaign with nine goals, Ba five and the abysmal Torres with five, despite playing 1592 Premier League minutes. Mourinho had grand plans when he retook the job of how to reinvigorate the Spaniard, saying: "Fernando is not a player with balls into his feet. Fernando is a man of depth, of movement who likes to get to the back of defenders. If we can give him what he needs, I think he will get success again." Nearly six hundred minutes later the jury was in. Chelseas style wasnt at their best when trying to work to the needs of Torres, they needed a forward with balls into his feet and he proved to be equally ineffective for Mourinho than he had been under other managers since moving to Stamford Bridge. 2011/12 Torres under Andre Villas Boas and Roberto Di Matteo – Six Premier League goals in 1907 minutes – an average of one goal every 317 minutes. 2012/13 Torres under Di Matteo and Rafa Benitez – Eight Premier League goals in 2573 Premier League minutes – an average of one goal every 321 minutes. 2013/14 under Mourinho – Five Premier League goals in 1592 minutes – an average of one goal every 318 minutes. The statistics are remarkable but for the manager the biggest one that needed to change was minutes played. Throughout last season it was evidently clear that many of the Chelsea players, inside the three behind the striker, regularly showed a lack of trust in Torres as an outlet. The consequence of this was teams defended deeper and the pressure fell on the likes of Oscar and Eden Hazard to unlock the opposition. Chelsea led the league averaging 18.2 shots per game but the teams above them scored 30 or more goals as Mourinhos side scored just one goal or less in 15 of the 38 matches. The Special One has been full of praise of the Chelsea board after targeting key areas to bring more power and strength through the middle for this season, particularly up front with the addition of Diego Costa. Didier Drogbas arrival, brought on as a sub on Monday, pushes Torres further down the pecking order. "This season we have bought some key players and we believe we are in another dimension," said the 51-year-old in Fridays press conference ahead of Mondays clash with Burnley. Sean Dyches Premier League new boys may well prove to be the weakest of all the teams in the division this season, having come up through the Championship with very little funds behind them, so we should be cautious about drawing conclusions about this new Chelsea side based on their first opponents of the new campaign. However, it was clear that Cesc Fabregas brings something Chelsea so desperately needs from central midfield and his pass for Andre Schurrles goal will be one of the finest you will see this season. It capped off a brilliant, 22 pass move that changed the momentum of the game. The former Arsenal man will grab the headlines for a sensational performance but the showing from Diego Costa was just as important. It was a contest that was over by half-time. Burnley led for just two hundred seconds before the Spaniard smashed home an equalizer on the left foot. The highlight packs will show a simple finish but the buildup showed what Costa can bring. 55 seconds before his left foot leveled the scores, Fabregas played a wonderful diagonal ball for the forward to run on to. He sprinted, held the ball up well and waited for others to come into attack. Burnley couldnt get the ball back and 17 passes later he had scored by sitting deeper, off the defenders, and anticipating a clearance or rebound. Costas movement is excellent and much different to Torres. He doesnt spend a lot of time running on the shoulder of a defender, instead he wants to drop deeper and link up with others, which is exactly what the fluid, interchanging, intelligent Chelsea attack demands. He is a striker who is very confident in every move he makes. He sprints with purpose and never was this more evident than in the 30th minute. Costa sat deep between central defenders as the ball was played to left back Ben Mee but the moment the Burnley man received the ball, he anticipated he would be uncomfortable with a press from Hazard. He began sprinting towards the Burnley goal as if a Chelsea player had the ball and as soon as Mee did what he expected, he intercepted the ball and was clear away on a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. He was then brought down in the box but referee Michael Oliver wrongly decided to book him for simulation. Costas intelligence had not been rewarded this time but it was just a teaser to what is to come over the next 10 months of Premier League football. Its only week one but already Mourinhos men are top scorers. Costa scored but he brought much more than that, receiving more than 50 passes and linking up marvelously with Oscar, Hazard and Schurrle. Overall it was performance from a centre-forward that Chelsea have been lacking for far too long. (fourfourtwo.com - click for larger image) It is little wonder Mourinho is no longer cautious about Chelseas title aspirations this season. Cheap MLB Jerseys Authentic . Edwin Encarnacion carried the torch for two days at Fenway Park this week; Melky Cabrera and Jose Bautista have had their moments; lately Anthony Gose has contributed. Nike MLB Jerseys For Sale . -- LaMarcus Aldridge returned to the Trail Blazers lineup, happy to know that things didnt go awry without him. https://www.mlbjerseys2020.com/.S. President Barack Obama saluted the Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks at the White House on Monday -- a rare moment for a president hungry to see more victorious teams from his hometown. MLB Jerseys 2020 . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins (5) – He had a brilliant game; it was a huge response for his average games before. Cheap MLB Jerseys From China . Striker Dario Mandzukic scored the opener in the 22nd minute but was given a red card nine minutes later for a reckless tackle and left Croatia with 10 men for the remainder of the match.GUELPH, Ont. -- The Guelph Storm are Ontario Hockey League champions after a pair of late goals Kerby Rychel will remember the rest of his life. Rychels second goal of the game with 26.3 seconds remaining gave the Storm a 4-3 come-from-behind win against the North Bay Battalion in Game 5 on Friday and their first OHL title since 2004. Before Rychel could play hero late in the game, he was already the Storms saviour when he scored his first of the night with just under five minutes remaining in the third period to tie the score, easily depositing a second rebound behind hard luck North Bay goalie Jake Smith. That set up Rychels dramatic goal in the final seconds, as he went hard to the net and snapped a rebound past Smiths blocker. "I blacked out. Its the biggest goal of my life honestly. Words cant really describe it," Rychel said. "I still cant believe it. I kind of feel like Im in a dream right now." It has been a dream series for the Storm, who came back to win Game 1 in overtime, Game 3 in the final 30 seconds with two quick goals and then the capper in Game 5. "Thats the way it goes. You have to play right to the buzzer," said Storm head coach Scott Walker, enjoying his fourth year behind the Guelph bench. "I have a great group of guys, they never stopped believing. They love each other, they play hard for each other, so it was great." Walker pointed to the dramatic Game 3 comeback as the turning point in the series, when the Storm finally showed the form that won them the Western Conference. "We played hard and we have a great bunch of guys, and when theyre playing theyre hard to stop. I dont know what will happen (in London), but thats the way you play." Rychel agreed with his coachs assessment about the teams penchant for coming back. "We didnt stop believing," Rychel said. "I really dont think we had our best game tonight, but I thought we could pull it out. Once we had it 3-3 then it was anybodys game." Up until the tying goal, the Storm had outshot the Battalion, but North Bay looked fully in control of the game. Guelph never led the game until Rychels second gooal.dddddddddddd North Bay opened the scoring at 16:18 of the first on the power play when Nick Paul beat Justin Nichols, who turned aside 23-of-26 shots, with a well-placed snapshot from the left circle just inside the far post. The lead didnt last long as Brock McGinn blasted a shot from the high slot over Smiths blocker 50 seconds later. Brett McKenzies redirection on a Marcus McIvor pass to the slot gave the Battalion the lead once again with a minute left in the period. Barclay Goodrow put his team up 3-1 in the second period when he stole the puck from Jason Dickinson at centre ice and went in alone on Nichols, moving to his right before sliding the puck in. Just when it looked as if North Bay would cruise into the intermission with a two-goal cushion, Matt Finn took a pass from Robby Fabbri and walked into the slot before banking a shot off the near post and in with a minute remaining. Fabbri had three assists on the night for 28 points and was named the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award winner as the OHL playoff Most Valuable Player. Goodrows goal looked like it was going to hold up until Rychel went to work. "I think they deserved better and I think they should be playing on Sunday, but sometimes in hockey games dont go your way. Tonight was one of those things," said North Bay head coach Stan Butler. "As a coaching staff we believed in this group of guys and the way they played tonight showed the type of character they have. They played hard all the games. Im so proud of them, the way they played, but Im disappointed in the result for them." Smith meanwhile was superb on the night, stopping 34 shots in the loss. Now Guelph heads to the Memorial Cup in London, Ont., which starts May 16. In their last trip to the Memorial Cup in 2004 the Storm finished last in the four-team tournament. Rychel is going to soak it all in. "I was close in my rookie year, three wins away from going to the Memorial Cup. Now, I get my chance to go and its a great feeling," he said. "Were going to be ready for sure. Were going to enjoy this for a couple of days, but its a big event and well definitely be ready." ' ' '