adminLONDON. — A defiant Jose Mourinho on Saturday night insisted: This team is together — and I’m not going anywhere. Chelsea manager Mourinho vowed to plough on attempting to resurrect his team’s desperate season despite a 3-1 home defeat by Liverpool creating yet more scrutiny of his position. Despite the bookies making him favourite to be the next English Premier League boss to be sacked after the home defeat against Liverpool, the Chelsea manager insisted he is staying in his job.
When asked if he thought Saturday’s defeat could be his last in charge, he snarled: “No, I don’t.” Mourinho also hit back at suggestions that he may have “lost” the Stamford Bridge dressing room. He said: “I have no doubts. If you saw some individual performances below a normal level, there were not many. I would say there were, a maximum, a couple. “Even these ones, they suffered because they are not able to do more. The team is together.”
Owner Roman Abramovich missed Saturday’s disaster, but was briefed soon afterwards. And it’s understood he will give Mourinho time to halt Chelsea’s slump. But Mourinho knows that a Champions League defeat to Dinamo Kiev on Wednesday will make next Saturday’s match at Stoke vital for the manager, despite the owner’s support. And he admitted that this loss heaped more misery on him and his family, adding: “I don’t think we’ll have a great Saturday dinner.”
Mourinho turned on his interviewers during a tense Press conference following Chelsea’s defeat to Liverpool. Mourinho was plunged into pressure after Jurgen Klopp’s side won 3-1 at Stamford Bridge. Two goals from Philippe Coutinho and a late strike from Christian Benteke have put the Chelsea boss on the brink. Bookmakers have suspended betting on Mourinho leaving Chelsea.
And after a stunning TV interview, initially Mourinho declined to give his thoughts, preferring to turn the tables on the questioning journalists. “I’d like to listen more than being questioned,” he said. He was asked how a side which cantered to the title in May had fallen off the pace so much. “Did you see the game?” he snapped.
Next he was asked about Lucas avoiding a second yellow for a foul on Ramires. “What do you think? You are not punished by the FA. I’m punished if I tell you,” said Mourinho, who is subject to two separate and ongoing disciplinary procedures from the Football Association. “There are things that are out of our hands,” Mourinho added.
“Two minutes extra time (at the end of the first half), we concede the goal on two minutes 35 seconds. “Then what happened in the second half everything is a consequence of some crucial moments. “Moments that the stadium saw, the players more than see, the players felt it, from now, what happens is just a consequence.”
Mourinho was then asked about the support from the Chelsea fans, who sang his name throughout, and took the opportunity to make a veiled criticism of referee Mark Clattenburg and his officials. “I have some players really sad in the dressing room and I am full of respect for them. We see it match after match,” he added.
“As professionals they are not getting the respect they deserve. I don’t think we, myself and them, are not going to have a great Saturday dinner, even families for sure. “They have the same feelings that we have and I’m really sorry with that lack of respect for professionals.” Asked to explain what he meant by lack of respect, Mourinho said: “You are all intelligent guys. If you want to write, you write. “Next Press conference I will bring you nice glasses, maybe you see the game in a better way.”
Mourinho plans to prepare for Wednesday’s Champions League Group G clash with Dynamo Kiev as normal. “I go home, I go find a sad family,” he said. “I will try to watch some of the rugby (World Cup final) and disconnect a little bit from this. “Then I will start preparing the training session for tomorrow morning and the game for Wednesday.” — AFP.
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