Asmir Begovic has become the latest player to support José Mourinho by claiming the only comforting aspect of Chelsea making their worst start to a season in 37 years is that the man in charge is “the best manager in the world”.
Chelsea are 16th and host Aston Villa on Saturday in their first game since Roman Abramovich took the unprecedented step of issuing a vote of confidence in Mourinho. Since then several members of the Chelsea squad, including Diego Costa and Cesc Fàbregas, have backed Mourinho, who has thanked Abramovich for showing faith in him.
Begovic has followed suit by saying the players and manager firmly believe in one another and also praised Mourinho for the way he has handled the crisis at Stamford Bridge. “He’s not happy, of course. He doesn’t want to lose. He wouldn’t have won all the trophies he has, and become the best manager in the world, to be happy with how things are going,” Begovic said.
“But at the same time he has kept calm, tried to keep things on the ground, make sure we don’t feel sorry for ourselves, and pick things up. It’s a long season, we know in football these things happen, even to the best teams; we need to keep fighting and hopefully things will turn for us, our performances and our luck.”
Asked whether Mourinho is the man to get the champions out of a mess, Begovic replied: “That’s the only comforting thing: we have the best manager in the world. We believe in him and he believes in us. We will turn things around.”
Thrust into the spotlight owing to a serious knee injury to Thibaut Courtois, Begovic has endured a baptism of fire following his summer transfer from Stoke City. The 3-1 defeat at home to Southampton was Chelsea’s fourth loss in the Premier League this season and leaves them 10 points adrift of Manchester City at the top.
“It’s a change, you definitely know you are playing at a different level but that’s what I wanted, a challenge. I look forward to it and I’ve worked really hard to get here,” the Bosnia-Herzegovina goalkeeper said. “I’m enjoying that part of things, but the results need to change, we know that. They are not good enough, our performances haven’t been good enough. The club has set standards over the last few years. We need to pick our play up and work harder.”
Begovic, who has started Chelsea’s past seven matches, admitted he never imagined he would get so many opportunities so soon. “There is a certain idea you have, what is going to happen. Things have obviously changed a little bit. I’ve been thrown in there and that’s a good experience for me. I have experienced different things before with international football and club sides as well. It hasn’t struck me too badly, I just try to keep my head down, keep performing and hopefully I can help the team turn things around.”
With Courtois targeting a return in December after starting his rehabilitation from knee surgery, Begovic was asked whether he is confident of keeping his place once the Belgium No1 is fit.
“My goal when I came here was to contribute to this team,” Begovic said. “If the manager plays me, he plays me, if not that’s his choice and I will support the guys and be a good member of the team. Ultimately I want to help this team win trophies, that’s my goal, that’s why I came to the club. That’s the way I still look at things.”
