Rafa Benitez said Chelsea lacked the killer instinct to finish the game off against Tottenham in their English Premier League encounter at Stamford Bridge, which eventually ended 2-2.
The Blues scored via their two Brazilians Oscar and Ramires, with Spurs equalizing twice courtesy Emmanuel Adebayor and Gylfi Sigurdsson, who scored with ten minutes remaining, after Chelsea missed a host of chances early in the second half.
"We had the chances on counter-attack to score the third goal and finish the game," he said. "We scored the first one and then we gave them the opportunity to counter, got the second and after it was the same, three or four opportunities to kill the game, we didn't do it and then they were pushing."
Adebayor scored a brilliant opening goal form Tottenham, before setting up Sigurdsson for the late equalizer, although replays suggested the former Arsenal forward was offside.
"For the second goal, Adebayor was offside but we had to defend a bit better," Benitez added. "It was a good game, good for the fans but not for us because we were in control and we didn't win.
"We didn't have the legs, we had some players tired and we had a problem with the full-backs going forward so we had to control them but in the middle also they had too many bodies, people that could hold the ball.
"It was not easy, but when you have this situation you have space behind to play the counter-attacks that we had, so that was the key and if they push and push it is fine but we had to kill the game.
"We had one or two corners where they counter-attacked. It was a problem for us (because) they are quite good with this transition because they have some pace too."
The result keeps Chelsea in pole position to finish in the top-four, with the Blues now two points clear of Arsenal and three ahead of Tottenham with just two matches remaining.
Chelsea next play Aston Villa, and a win against Paul Lambert's side will pretty much seal a place in the Champions League for next season, due to a vastly superior goal difference to Tottenham.
"We are managing the squad quite well but the tempo was too high so we needed to work hard and we were working hard in the first half but if we can manage with different players we will be fine," Benitez said.
"We have to think about winning the next game and being ready for the (Europa League) final. We have to manage players, manage the squad and find the balance."
