Jose Mourinho labelled Chelsea's performance in their 2-0 victory over Leicester City as 'lazy' before questioning the players' attitudes towards the match.
Diego Costa and Eden Hazard each scored second half goals to earn Mourinho's men three points at Stamford Bridge after a drab first-half performance from the title favourites.
Despite Chelsea moving to the top of the Premier League table with victory over the Foxes, 51-year-old Mourinho was critical of his players' approach to the first period of the match.
Mourinho said: "In the first half, the team was lazy, and I did not like that.
"But they improved in the second half and they won, which is the most important thing.
"We didn't play a good first half.
"We were a bit slow, slow moving the ball, slow thinking, and we needed to change.
"Sometimes you don't need to change players, you just need to change your attitude facing the game."
23 August Premier League gallery:
The Chelsea boss went on to praise his side's performance after the break.
"We had so many chances, so much good football, so many occasions to score, so I think obviously we deserved the victory," said Mourinho.
Thibaut Courtois remained in goal for the second match in a row keeping Petr Cech's long-term future at Chelsea in doubt, but Mourinho praised the Belgian No1's impressive performance.
"It is important in a big club to have the kind of goalkeeper that is almost sleeping during the match, and suddenly in the right moment he says: 'yes, I'm here,' and Thibaut did this the same way Petr did so many times for us," said the Portuguese.
Diego Costa's goal means he has scored Chelsea's opening goal in each of their two matches so far this season, and Mourinho was full of praise for the Spanish striker.
He said: "He is a striker and strikers live on goals.
"He can play better than what he did today, the same as the team, but he scored and he scored in a critical moment for us."
Of Didier Drogba's first Stamford Bridge appearance since resigning this summer, Mourinho claimed it was a moment of great emotion.
"It doesn't matter if he's playing or scoring.
"Just the fact that we have him back and I have the pleasure and honour to work with him, for me, that's enough," admitted Mourinho.