Jose Mourinho revealed that he told his Chelsea players they must bounce back from being a goal down at half-time in their eventual 3-1 win over Southampton.
The Blues trailed the visiting Saints 1-0 at the break after Jay Rodriguez's early opener but rallied to clinch all three points thanks to goals from Gary Cahill, John Terry and Demba Ba.
After the match, Mourinho said that his half-time speech implored his players to feel more responsibility in a Blues shirt, especially after falling behind.
"I told them it's easy to play when you're winning, but now we have to show character," he told Sky Sports.
"But we knew what to do. (Juan) Mata was like a fake winger, playing inside all the time - and that gave them problems. Ramires and (Frank) Lampard pressed them high, and it was a deserved result."
He added: "They must feel the responsibility to play for Chelsea.
"Feeling that Chelsea cannot be in December - like it happened in a few seasons - completely out of the title race.
"I can't establish targets. I can't say 'now I want to win five consecutive matches, now I want to be top of the league'.
"One of the things these boys have to learn is to cope with the responsibility of being there. We cannot be 15 points behind by December, we have to be there."
