Mourinho rules out Blues hangover
Jose Mourinho is adamant there is no chance of Chelsea suffering a post-Old Trafford hangover like Arsenal did last season.
The Blues’ 40-game unbeaten Premiership run came to a dramatic end at Manchester United yesterday, just as Arsenal’s own 49-match streak without a defeat bit the dust at the Theatre of Dreams 12 months ago.
Famously, after spending the previous 12 months being hailed as English football’s ‘Invincibles’, the Gunners suffered so badly in the aftermath of the shock reverse they picked up just six points in their next five games, a run which proved the catalyst for the loss of their league title.
After also appearing to be impregnable this term, Chelsea’s recent stutter has reduced their lead at the top to six points – and second-placed Wigan also have a game in hand.
Understandably, Mourinho will be keen to see his side respond by grabbing a positive result when they resume their quest for back-to-back championships with a home encounter with Newcastle on November 19.
However, the Chelsea coach remains in bullish mood and insists his side have already bounced back from last week’s Champions League setback against Real Betis.
“No, I don’t see the same thing happening to us that happened to Arsenal, especially when you look at how my team performed against Manchester United,” he said.
“In a sense, we have already bounced back. It was still a defeat, and it was still the same result but the difference between the United game and the one in Betis was huge.
“Against Betis the attitude was poor, the performance was poor, the pace of the game was poor, the effort was poor. I was really upset with the defeat.
“But when you see a team perform like they did yesterday, in a very difficult stadium against a big team, with very good players who were desperate to get a result and fought with everything they had, it doesn’t make me afraid for the future.”
Mourinho may have every right to be confident as, for all Wigan’s brilliant recent form, their most realistic challengers come the end of the season - United, Arsenal and Liverpool – remain 10, 11 and 15 points adrift respectively.
But equally, it would be true to say the Stamford Bridge machine is not firing on all cylinders just now.
Reports of a bust-up between Mourinho and Hernan Crespo may be unconfirmed, but the Argentine’s absence through injury cost Chelsea an important attacking option yesterday as the visitors poured forward looking for an equaliser.
Shaun Wright-Phillips also looks a shadow of the player who excelled on such a regular basis at Manchester City while the normally sound Chelsea defence found it difficult to cope with United’s tactics of bypassing Claude Makelele and Michael Essien by launching long balls down the channels for Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronalo to run on to.
Certainly, Mourinho cannot be happy with a run of just one win in five outings in all competitions, yet he is relaxed enough in the abilities of his team, and the position of their main rivals to believe the pressure being exerted at present is not on Chelsea.
“Maybe Manchester United will get closer to us and they will not drop so many points or lose so many matches,” said Mourinho.
“But I believe we showed yesterday why we are champions and why we are top of the league.
“We are not happy at the defeat but we are calm and confident because we know we did enough to get a different result.
“There is no more pressure on us. Manchester United have to win their game in hand just to be seven points behind. They are the ones under pressure, there are no problems for us.”
