Andre Schurrle admits Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho said little to his players at halftime of their win over Fulham.
Mourinho revealed he had given his side a dose of the silent treatment at half-time following a lacklustre opening 45 minutes, which may well have been a consequence of the gruelling midweek Champions League trip to Istanbul.
However, it was a ploy which had the desired impact.
Schurrle said: "It was strange, but everybody knew coming into the dressing room that in the first half, we had played bad. Everybody knew we had to change.
"The manager was in there for 10 or 15 seconds, said something, but I don't want to say it here (again), then he left.
"The pressure was on us to change [in the second half], so we did."
Chelsea could move further ahead at the top next weekend, given Manchester City and Arsenal are both involved in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
"We have a good young team, everybody grows in this season to be successful," said Schurrle.
"We are top and we want to stay there. We have to believe we can win this."
