Mourinho: Bring on Manchester City
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| Mourinho |
Speaking to the media at a busy Cobham conference room the manager outlined his thinking ahead of Sunday’s match, which pits us against the current Premier League champions. Earlier this year we travelled to the North-West twice in as many weeks, winning by a goal to nil in the league fixture but going down 2-0 in an FA Cup tie.
‘It’s one more game, three more points,’ said Mourinho. ‘Obviously when matches are between title contenders every point makes a difference.
‘Last weekend Arsenal and City got one point each, nobody got three. These matches in the end can be important, but if you analyse with a simple pragmatic view it’s one game, three points, no more than that.
‘For the title it’s not just City, there are other teams in this race. Other clubs have exactly the same ambition as Chelsea and City.
‘Last season we had the experience and we know what it is to win there and to lose there. I’m not exhaustively going through every second of these two matches with the players.
‘I did it myself to try to identify the differences between the two to help us understand why we were so strong in the first game and not so strong in the second one.
‘But last season is last season; statistics belong to history, not to the future. What happened last year has no relation to this season. Can we go there and win like we did last season? Obviously we can. But we can also lose.
‘We respect them totally because they deserve that respect. At the same time, we believe in ourselves and we want to win.’
Mourinho was understandably asked to provide a fitness update on his squad, having spoken after Wednesday’s game about managing striker Diego Costa at the moment.
‘Everybody is ready to play. Diego is not in the best condition but he will start the game. He plays this game, he won’t play against Bolton, and he plays against Aston Villa. Let’s see his evolution.
‘The medical department are doing their best, the player is fantastic in trying to play and being available for the team. We have to try to protect him until he gets completely fit.’
A victory on Sunday would take Mourinho equal with Dave Sexton on 164 victories as manager of Chelsea, the second-highest figure in the club’s history behind Dave Calderhead. Does achieving personal landmarks such as these matter to Mourinho?
‘I want to win this game not to make 164 victories, but to win three points. Numbers are no more than history. I’m totally focused on three points and the Premier League in 2015, rather than history and a certain number of victories.’
Our four league matches to date have produced 21 goals – the Blues scoring 15 of those – and Mourinho considered the start to the season with our defensive and offensive play in mind.
‘The perfect situation is to score lots and not concede; we have to chase that perfection. At the moment we are happy because we have had four matches in the Premier League and four victories.
‘In the Champions League it was not a result we wanted but it’s not a result to make us panic. We are happy with what we are doing. We have a good balance and a good squad. However we are in September and we know we have a long run ahead so we need to try to improve every day.’
Finally, the manager was asked to comment on the day’s breaking news, that Wembley stadium will host the semi-finals and the final of Euro 2020.
‘It’s great,’ he smiled. ‘It has to be a special Euros playing in so many countries, but ending in London and Wembley is fantastic news. I’d like to be there as a fan, not as a manager!’
