Jose Mourinho has voiced his dismay at the way international friendlies have ruined Chelsea's preparations in the build-up to the new Barclays Premiership season.

The Chelsea manager trained with just a handful of first-team players at their Cobham HQ on Wednesday - leaving him distinctly unimpressed with the international calendar.

Mourinho declared: "Nigeria are not playing because they don't have a coach yet and Portugal is not playing a friendly game. That is intelligent. The players should be with their teams before the season starts, not with the national team, so I think the Portuguese coach (Luiz Felipe Scolari) was clever."