The Chelsea boss has emphasised the growing confidence of the team.
Chelsea FC manager Jose Mourinho sat down with the media for his customary pre-match press conference. With this weekend’s Premier League fixture coming against a high-flying West Ham United, the boss was keen to stress the positive mentality surround his players.
"At the moment we are not afraid to lose matches in the Premier League, we are going to play normally."
Chelsea started the season awfully, accumulating just eight points from their opening eight league games. However, the international break intervened at an opportune time and the Blues have returned looking more like the team that dominated the league last season.
No, they are not quite up to trophy-winning levels yet, but last weekend’s methodical 2-0 defeat of Aston Villa represented the closest semblance to a Jose Mourinho Chelsea side that we have seen this season.
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They followed it up with a 0-0 draw against Dynamo Kiev, but given the hostile environment and the fact that two-thirds of Chelsea’s remaining group games are at Stamford Bridge, a point is by no means disastrous.
Mourinho was also keen to highlight individual improvements, with players seemingly en route to form.
"We could immediately feel some individual performances from the last two results and performances. To give you one example, Matic went from being on the bench against Aston Villa, to playing the second half against Aston Villa positively, to being the man of the match three days later. Other players also improved their performances, so [it has been] a bit better."
Matic has exemplified the professional attitude in recent weeks. The Serb was benched for the Southampton game prior to the international break. Not only that, but he was subbed on only to be subbed off in under 30 minutes. While that was probably the most humiliating point in his career, he refused to moan and whine.
Matic replaced Ruben Loftus-Cheek at halftime last weekend and put in a much-improved show. He then turned it up several notches midweek with a display that threw back to his dominating performances throughout the last campaign.
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Eden Hazard also reacted well to criticism by putting in his best 90 minutes so far this season against Dynamo. This is arguably the most encouraging development. Players who have been singled out and castigated have not sulked, but have risen to prove themselves instead.
This is indicative of the team mentality that the players and management alike have been preaching. Mourinho, though, knows that getting results is a big part of maintaining the attitude.
"The group was always solid and compact and together but obviously the mood improves with results and people are happy."
Chelsea will be desperate to overcome what will undoubtedly be a tough West Ham challenge this afternoon. Having said that, a win would only exponentially increase the optimism around West London as this campaign rolls on.
All quotes taken from chelseafc.com.
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