Blues boss Jose Mourinho set the record straight in his pre-match press conference and addressed the wild accusations regarding the club
Chelsea FC are said to be in turmoil given their horrendous start to the 2015/16 Premier League campaign. Players have been falling out with both the manager and each other, say reports. Jose Mourinho addressed this and other concerns ahead of the Arsenal clash.
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Evidently buoyed by Wednesday night’s convincing win over Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Mourinho appeared jovial in front of the media and took a light-hearted swipe at journalists trying to claim that the Chelsea dressing room has been subject to confrontations and bust-ups.
"Normally, when bad things in football happen, the first thing is to find a dramatic story. Somebody punched someone in the dressing-room. The manager doesn’t want to speak with this guy. Diego Costa fought with John Terry and before they start the fight, they brought a translator for them to understand each other because Diego cannot speak English and John cannot speak Spanish.They organise it like the Wild West duels. We are going to fight at this time, bring a translator to help us."
This is most certainly the case in modern football. When a club is going through difficulties, journalists are always looking to find that shocking story that can either explain or further the crisis. This is how they make their money and I guess you can’t really blame them for it. The best course of action is to dismiss them in such a fashion; an aggressive denial would have only led to more headlines.
Having said that, whether these particular claims are true or not, training ground quarrels shouldn’t be news anyway. Being a footballer doesn’t mean that you are immune from conflict within your workplace. Just like in any job there is going to be the odd scuffle from time to time. Who cares?
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The boss then addressed claims that the players are lacking belief and confidence with an answer that is pretty much akin to saying “No sh*t”.
"The real direction is that you lose matches, and you are affected. You lose confidence, you don’t want the ball. You are afraid of the ball. You fear the worst. The ball goes to your box and you think the worst. You are in front of the opponents’ goalkeeper and you are afraid to shoot. You are affected."
With four points from five league games and some terrible performances to go with it, the players are undoubtedly low on confidence. It’s natural. What makes champions is the ability to rebuild the collective confidence enough to carry you out of the rough patch. Wednesday’s thumping of Maccabi will certainly help.
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However, Blues fans would be naive to take the 4-0 victory as a sign of things to come. Maccabi were awful and Arsenal pose a much more significant threat. Chelsea desperately need a win on Saturday given their 17th position and complacency will guarantee the opposite. Having said that, Mourinho is not the type of man to allow such sentiments to creep into his team.
Saturday’s fixture also features the ever-entertaining subplot of Jose Mourinho v Arsene Wenger. The latter achieved his first win over the Blues boss in August’s Community Shield but many Chelsea fans are refusing to count that as a competitive fixture. The Frenchman will be desperate to prove both his and his team’s quality by nabbing the win at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho, though, played down the personal duel.
"It’s a match I want to isolate from every possible context. It’s just Chelsea versus Arsenal and it’s a match we want to win."
That’s the attitude Chelsea need when they take the field at lunchtime tomorrow. Eleven points off the leaders means a miracle is required if the title is to be defended. Falling fourteen points behind would require God turning up in person. This is a spot that champions are made for.
All quotes taken from The Guardian.
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