Chelsea's Carling Cup downfall owed much to one of football's oldest conventions according to Felipe Scolari. If you don't take your chances, you're likely to be punished.

The Chelsea manager spoke about the reasons behind his team selection after the penalty shoot-out defeat to Burnley, but most of all he spoke about a special danger in English football - letting a side from any division off the hook.

'I received information about Burnley before the game and I knew they play well. We put out a team that we believed could win the game - and we had chance to win,' Scolari pointed out.

'But what has happened is the same as in some other games. We made many mistakes when we arrived in front of goal. Four or five times.

'Burnley had two chances to score and made one goal. We had five chances and we lost. They played penalties better than us.'

The Blues misery from spot-kick deciders stretches far beyond Moscow last May and across the last decade. Our most recent success in competitive matches was in another League Cup tie, away to Ipswich over 10 years ago.

Wayne Bridge and John Mikel Obi were those who went through the anguish of missing this time but as Scolari argued, the game should have been over well before then.

'When you miss three or four goals, sure you not win - against Burnley, against any team - first, second or third division. In England it is different to other countries.'

Kalou, Di Santo and Alex were responsible for big misses. It was the returning Didier Drogba who had been on-target in the game from a Frank Lampard pass, but it was only injury to Juliano Belletti that had brought the England man onto the pitch. John Terry stayed on the bench, Scolari making six changes to the line-up in the last game.

Deco was taken off at half-time against Burnley and Franco Di Santo was lost to a hamstring tear in extra time, leaving the Blues with 10 men.

'I am angry because we lost but I am a coach that understands that sometimes I need to put in some players to start a game because they have been injured and come back, or some players who have not played many games,' he explained.

'I had only three or four other players that maybe it was possible to play but I say not today because they have played many games.

'Deco had a little problem but I think it is not a problem for him to play Saturday. Di Santo normally will be out 21 days.'

Burnley manager Owen Coyle put his team's fight-back through Ade Akinbiyi's goal and ultimate triumph down to their team and work ethic.

'Beating the club top of the Premier League and one of the favourites for the Champions League shows the magnitude of the effort the players have put in,' he said.

'Sometimes you ride your luck but at 1-0 down, it is easy to feel sorry for yourself and hide, but nothing was further from the truth.

'Drogba's goal was real quality but we just felt if we could stay in the game by passing and keeping our belief, that would give us a platform.

'It is easy enough to pack 11 behind the ball, but ultimately Chelsea would pick you off and although you only lose 1- or 2-0, you have contributed nothing to the game. Given the chances, we were going to commit players forward.'

The former Bolton striker revealed his team had not practiced for the shoot-out.

'We didn't because we didn't think it would get to penalties.'

'We lost one competition today,' finished Scolari. 'This is not normal for us. We want to win all competitions and we need to understand this. Now it is time tomorrow to start to work for Saturday's game.'