Jose Mourinho has issued a rallying cry to his Chelsea FC side ahead of their Champions League clash with FC Porto.
The Blues boss has called on his players to find some inspiration and show the fans that they are hungry for more silverware. Chelsea ruined what could have a been a transformative week by dropping two points against Newcastle United on Saturday. After three consecutive victories over Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Arsenal and Walsall, the club put in a hapless showing against the Magpies and were lucky to escape with the point.
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Now, the Blues boss has questioned whether Chelsea have players who want to win multiple trophies.
"There are two sorts of champions. There are those who win something, and there are lots of them…In this club we have 25 champions from last year, but serial champions in this squad?"
This is always an issue for squads that have been successful the season previous. With football players being paid excessive amounts of cash, you can understand that a few of them may not care too much about putting in that 110% effort that is required to secure league titles and cups.
However, this is where the manager is key. Sir Alex Ferguson was king in finding ways to motivate players who had seven, eight trophies to win that ninth cup. Mourinho has to find a way to draw those A* level performances out of the likes of Branislav Ivanovic, Cesc Fabregas and John Terry.
Mourinho stated that the main issue is the current attitude of the squad.
"Of course it’s very difficult to win every season, but you can be a serial champion in your approach and your attitude. If we fight every minute of every game and in the end someone has two more points, then we don’t go from champions to losers. Not at all."
Chelsea simply don’t have the attitude of ‘serial champions’ at the moment. The Blues look lacklustre and disinterested on the field with the likes of Eden Hazard and Fabregas lumbering around at half-speed.
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Part of the blame, though, should be pinned on the Chelsea brass. They failed to bring in a sufficient number of fresh faces who could immediately challenge the senior members and thus there has been no injection of desire that usually accompanies the arrival of new players.
Having said that, Mourinho did openly threaten his so-called untouchables, stating that if the chances of a realistic title challenge (or cup run) disappear, he will use the opportunity of meaningless games to trial his younger players.
"If the season becomes ‘closed’ and we can’t win trophies, I will go just with the kids instead. It makes no sense to play the older players when you have nothing to win. There can be a moment where I will look to the kids and say: ‘Let’s go, non-stop.’ I am ruthless."
This marks the most explicit challenge that the boss has laid down to the first-team regulars. They have been awful but Mourinho has largely defended their performances thus far. Evidently, the abysmal first-half against Newcastle has pushed him over the edge and it will be interesting to see how Ivanovic, Nemanja Matic and the like react to his dressing down.
Then again, it will be interesting to see if they play at all.
All quotes taken from The Guardian.
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