Blues are not 'afraid of a fight'
Jose Mourinho went out of his way to avoid increasing the hype before Chelsea’s clash with Blackburn at Stamford Bridge tomorrow but still delivered a forceful retort to the Premiership teams who believe they can kick them out of the game.
It has been a difficult week for the Portuguese coach and one he has certainly not been used to since taking charge of Chelsea.
A draw against bottom club Everton last Sunday was followed by a defeat on penalties to Charlton in the Carling Cup on Wednesday night.
Those two results, he claimed, gave everyone in the country what they were hoping for – Chelsea to stop winning and he added that a national holiday was likely to be ordered when they were eventually beaten in the Premiership.
“Two draws is not a drama,” responded Mourinho. “Of course the second draw left us out of one competition but the draw in the Premiership was normal.
“Everybody was crying because we kept on winning and winning so the draw at Goodison Park made more people happy and gave them a bit more hope. Everybody was waiting for Chelsea not to win every game and one day, when we lose, there will be a holiday in the country. But we are ready for that.
“We never said we would beat everybody, we never said we were unbeatable. We never said this kind of thing. The only thing we think and keep saying is that we are the best team.
“Because we are the best team, we win more times than other teams. We are not saying we are unbeatable or supermen, so a draw is normal and one defeat is normal. But nobody in this country is doing as well as we are doing.”
Last season’s clash at Ewood Park, which Chelsea won 1-0, ended with Mourinho accusing Blackburn’s players of trying to kick his men out of the game.
The Football Association later charged both teams with failing to control their players following a mass brawl on the pitch – sparked by Paul Dickov’s late challenge on goalkeeper Petr Cech.
The heated game was responsible for four separate fracas and, after Everton’s physical approach earned them a point against Chelsea last Sunday, there has been much speculation that Blackburn will again try to unsettle the champions with their full-blooded style.
Everton striker James Beattie claimed the only way to stop Chelsea was for teams to out-muscle them but Mourinho, trying hard not to be dragged into a war of words, made it abundantly clear that other teams should not treat his side as ‘little kids afraid of a fight’.
“I think what James Beattie said is not true,” retorted Mourinho. “James Beattie had one touch of the ball in 90 minutes. He scored from the penalty spot - a beautiful penalty. There was no chance for the ’keeper so it was an important shot. But he didn’t touch the ball in the rest of the game.
“So John Terry was afraid of James Beattie or Robert Huth was afraid of Duncan Ferguson – I don’t think so.
“I think we are ready for everything. We played against Everton, we didn’t win but we had no problems. We played against Bolton, a very physical and strong team, with no problems. We played twice against Liverpool, who are a very physical team with no problems.
“If they think we are little kids afraid of the fight, they are very very wrong.”
Mourinho’s warning was matched with a hint that he will be looking for the help of the match official if tomorrow’s match descends into another ill-tempered affair.
“What we are not is a dirty team,” said Mourinho. “We are ready for physical teams. We can cope with it, we can cope with aerial battles, we can cope with people who like to press a lot, we are ready for that.
“Blackburn have some different players, they play a little bit different. We know the way they play and what we have to do.
“Maybe they change the way they play against us. We know the best way to get a result is to think about ourselves and to perform and forget what they are.
“We have no bad feelings, we just want to win. The way they play is not our problem. That is something they have to answer. They have to answer their critics and change if they want to change. They have to carry on if it is something they believe in. We are not worried or obsessed by them. We just think we are the best team and have to perform to get the points.
“They can approach the game like they want to and we will do the same. The referee is there to defend the law and the spirit of the game, so we are not worried.”
Mourinho then became so exasperated with the continued questioning about the bad feelings left over from last season’s victory over Rovers at Ewood Park that, in an effort to stop them, he decided to announce that Chelsea would be champions again this season.
Getting up to leave the press conference, he said, tongue-in-cheek: “I think you need me to say something that will stop these strange questions. You want me to say ‘we are going to be champions’? Well, we are going to be champions. You have something to write now. It doesn’t matter about the result against Blackburn or Manchester United, we will be champions.”
