Speaking to the press ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Sunderland, Jose Mourinho had words of support and praise for those members of his squad not featuring regularly at the moment.
The manager began his media conference with good news, reporting he had no new injury concerns and only Nathan Ake remains out.The Blues travel to the North-East aiming to extend our unbeaten start to the season into December, and Mourinho has the chance to name the same starting XI for the third game running.
The manager was asked if he had any untouchables in the squad, and while the stats show seven players have started each league game so far, he was quick to highlight the vital roles played by other members of the group.
‘My untouchables now are the ones that are not playing,’ he said. ‘They are responsible for a lot that we are doing.
‘I don’t have one single player at the moment from the ones that aren’t playing a lot that is not training very hard, that is not behaving very well, that is not part of the group, that is not ready to help by playing 10 minutes or one minute or staying on the bench.
‘Life is easy when you are always playing, when you are winning and feeling high in your self-esteem. Life is difficult when you are not playing because a player was born to play. All these guys in my squad are for me absolutely fantastic and I’m so happy with them.’
Mourinho reiterated complacency will not be an issue for him or his players, and as evidence he noted Eden Hazard sprinting back in the 88th minute of our 5-0 triumph against Schalke to help the team defend our clean sheet. Signs of the team’s evolution are clear, he said.
That midweek trip to Germany naturally disrupted preparations for tomorrow’s game, and the manager went in to some detail about how players recover in busy periods such as these.
‘They can be with us for three or four hours a day but the other hours are not with us,’ he explained. ‘It’s up to them. It’s more important what they do when they’re not with us.
‘We can put everything at their disposal. We are here all day if they want to be here all day. We have lots of people that work for them in prevention, recovery, different areas, but at the end of the day it’s their responsibility.
‘We don’t know what they do in the other 20 hours they’re not with us but when I see them the next day I can guess what they did because when they come here they are better than the day before. When I see the recovery process is fluid it’s because they are doing very well.
‘Because of that the club is preparing a little Christmas party for them and their families, because their families also deserve it. For good things and important things we are always going to find some time.’
During the conference Mourinho rubbished reports linking Chelsea with a move for Lionel Messi, something he puts down to the ease with which ‘non-truths’ can circulate these days.
Before finishing the manager previewed our trip to Wearside to take on the last team to beat us in the Premier League, back in April.
‘Lots of water has passed under the bridge since that defeat so we forget it and we move on. I believe it’s not a factor tomorrow. It will be a very difficult game with all the dangers that you have in Premier League matches. What happened last season was an isolated situation.
‘We think about improving ourselves where we can. That’s what we do without being worried or thinking about other teams. We are happy with the way we are doing things.
‘I think and I hope there is much more to come. We have a young team. They want to stay at the club and I want to stay at the club. We have a lot ahead of us. This team has all the conditions to be better.’
Source : Chelseafc.com
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