Maurizio Sarri has called on his Chelsea players to improve their mentality after being left frustrated with how the Blues thought they would "easily" beat Newcastle on Saturday.
Chelsea got off to a perfect start against the Magpies at Stamford Bridge after Pedro scored in just the ninth minute.
But the hosts allowed Newcastle to increasingly control the first half until they made Chelsea pay with an equaliser, which came when Ciaran Clark headed in a corner kick in the 40th minute.
However, Chelsea went on to win the game 2-1 thanks to Willian's superb curling effort in the second half, but Sarri revealed he felt his players had thought the game against Newcastle was going to be easy.
"I am really very happy with the result. I was really very happy with the performance at Tottenham," Sarri told reporters.
"Today we started very well for 10 minutes. After the goal I think we thought 'now it's easy', but it wasn't.
"We slept for 20, 25 minutes, so at the end of the first half we were in trouble.
"We need to improve in the mental reaction. After our first goal something happened. We stopped to play for 25 minutes.
"We need to improve. It was really very important to get three points. For now it's enough."
In Pictures | Chelsea vs Newcastle | 12/01/2019
A lax mentality is something Sarri has complained about in the past but mainly in reference to Chelsea failing to react to going behind to opponents.
Against Newcastle, the Chelsea coach felt it was the reverse situation - that his players became complacent after scoring first, although he admitted he doesn't know why it is an issue plaguing his team.
"It's very difficult to understand," he said. "In the last five matches for us it really was very difficult to score. Today we scored after nine minutes, so the team thought today is very easy. We stopped to play and then we had problems.
"We were not able to react in the right way to the difficulty. Today wasn't a difficulty. We scored after nine minutes, so we had not to face difficulty.
"But in the last match, for the first time in Watford, we reacted very well to the 1-1, after the goal in the last minute of the first half.
"I think, apart from the result, we reacted really very well in the last match with Tottenham. Today we had only to manage a positive situation.
"I think we need to improve our mentality. Our mentality global, I think."
