Jose Mourinho was typically verbose ahead of Chelsea’s game against Norwich on Saturday (kick off 15:00 local time at Stamford Bridge).
This would normally bee seen as a nailed on 2-0 for the Blue machine.
But we all know that Chelsea’s results have been extraordinary of late and nothing can be taken for granted.
JM first dealt with the terror attacks in France by saying:
“Everybody has feelings and leaves the week in different ways. Some of our guys were involved in matches, almost all of them had to travel. From different perspectives, people leave the week in an emotional way.”
“Am I bit worried? Yes I am a bit worried. But for sure tomorrow I go to Stamford Bridge and I focus on the game.”
In terms of the almost inexplicable slump in form this season which has seen Chelsea fall 13 points off fourth position after just 12 games:
“It’s an experience I was waiting for many years to have,”
“You never know when it’s coming. I don’t know if it’s improved me or not but I think in football and management every experience is positive.
“But I still prefer the experience of winning.”
And he also used the opportunity to curry favour with the Chelsea fans who, in fairness, seem completely behind their beleaguered boss:
“In some stadiums and some clubs, when results are not good, the home stadium plays against you. This is not the case here, we have fantastic support.
“Our stadium is being magnificent. Instead of being a factor to disturb it is a factor to make us feel comfortable.
And the big question about potential January signings came up, with many a commentator on the game expecting big bucks to change hands over the winter at Stamford Bridge:
“I am happy with my players. I trust the players. I don’t need to clean the dressing room – I heard that was written somewhere – and I don’t need to ask the club to spend money in January.
“We put ourselves in a great situation by being champions, we have to be again together to put it in the right place.”
All in all he seems positive that he can turn things around at Chelsea:
“I believe the good moment will arrive. I think in a couple of weeks Falcao is back from injury, Courtois is back in December too so we really believe good things are waiting for us.”
In truth Jose can’t really blame injuries for his team’s form. While the other big boys have all dealt with major injury problems to big hitters this season, Chelsea have been largely injury free in the outfield positions.
With all this in mind, we think that this is Chelsea’s strongest XI for what should be a home win.
Chelsea fans: let’s have your teams.
