JOSÉ MOURINHO HAD NO INTENTION of facing the media on Saturday. But if we are learning anything about this controversial, effective and entertaining Chelsea manager, it is that he does what he believes is right, and sending out an assistant or a player to explain a relatively weak performance is not Mourinho’s style.

There was no reason to doubt the reasons he gave for the disappointing outcome. This game was sandwiched between the two legs of a European Cup quarter-final against Bayern Munich. “Every player needed a rest today, but I couldn’t give a rest to everyone. It’s difficult for everyone physically and mentally,” he said. But perhaps that tiredness was exacerbated because he did rest Claude Makelele.

“I would make Makelele the Chelsea player of the year,” Mourinho said, having diplomatically argued that John Terry and Frank Lampard should be awarded either the player of the Premiership and the player of the Champions League — “It doesn’t matter which way around.” Makelele is certainly the unsung hero of Chelsea’s season. Few replica shirts bear his name, as the fans are obsessed with Lampard and Terry. But even taking into account all the players being jaded, it was obvious by his absence how much graft Makelele puts in.

Birmingham City were able to thread passes together, which in turn gave them the confidence, if not too much penetration, to secure a point. This slight blip on the radar that tracks Chelsea’s seemingly inevitable march to the Premiership title marked an appropriate moment for Mourinho to put the game into context. “Maybe this season had been better than anyone could dream about — including me. Having an 11-point lead with a month to go is better than I dreamt,” he said.

There was nothing dreamlike about this contest, though. Chelsea were sapped of energy, while Birmingham fed off their opponents’ exhaustion but did little to catch the eye. Even when Steve Bruce’s side took the lead, it was down more to the tired lack of judgment of Petr Cech than to Birmingham’s inventiveness. A high, looping free kick taken by Jermaine Pennant should have been claimed by Cech. Instead Matthew Upson headed the ball from the far post, allowing Walter Pandiani to score.

Naturally, the home side were rejuvenated by this insult to their fine home record — and to think that Birmingham had lost every game away from home this year — but they left their equaliser until the 82nd minute, with Didier Drogba turning in Lampard’s neat reverse pass.

Mourinho said that he would not have rested players without his points cushion over Arsenal. But the thickness of that cushion is slightly misleading when you take into account that Chelsea still have games against Arsenal, Manchester United and Bolton Wanderers — a team who lack the resources at Mourinho’s disposal but who play in a similar vein.

“They are a big, physical team,” Bruce said. And he wasn’t talking about Bolton. “Let’s be honest, we’re all trying desperately to beat them, but we can’t,” Bruce said. Still, the City fans enjoyed their day. “Who needs Mourinho? We’ve got Steve Brucio,” they sang. And in any case Bruce is a convert to the Mourinho style of management.

“I think he’s been an absolute breath of fresh air to us all — there’s another one on the block now,” Bruce said. “It’s taken a hell of a lot of money to get there but, let’s be fair, he’s made some big decisions very quickly and I think I speak for all of us when I say that we have huge respect for him. I’ll be cheering them on on Tuesday. It’s a heavyweight clash, it’ll be close, but a two-goal start favours Chelsea.”

“You give everything you have to try to prepare the team for every situation,” Mourinho said. But even the most meticulous manager in the Premiership cannot completely overcome the odds of tiredness and the knowledge that the next day the team will be flying to Germany for a game that ought to have been straightforward, but which, thanks to that late penalty, has become a potential struggle.