José Mourinho has insisted there are no “ostriches” or “prima donnas” at Chelsea, referring to players who refuse to acknowledge their mistakes, and defended his criticisms of senior members of the side in front of the entire squad.
The Portuguese, who acknowledges he is enduring “the worst period” of his managerial career with his side having accrued only eight points from seven matches, chose to omit Loïc Rémy, Oscar and Radamel Falcao from his travelling party for the midweek loss at Porto and has left John Terry out of all but one of the team’s last five fixtures. The captain is expected to return against Southampton on Saturday, but an unsettling period has soured the mood at Chelsea and drawn scrutiny of the manager’s methods.
Yet Mourinho believes his players are being proactive in their pursuit of more consistent form, and has justified the criticisms he has dished out in the dressing room even to those few he had marked out as “serial champions” in midweek. “There is an animal that puts its head in the ground … an ostrich,” he said. “In the bad moments, you cannot do that and just wait for a better moment to come, or for the problems to be resolved by themselves. Or waiting for the moon to change and give you better vibrations. You make mistakes, you are in a bad moment, no ostrich, head up, face the problems, speak, work and for me this is the way.
“Sometimes, players on the pitch don’t want the ball. They hide. It’s the worst thing: you lose two or three matches, the next match you play at home and you don’t want to be there. I had players like this, even in big clubs. But I think we showed against Arsenal that we don’t have that profile. We came against Arsenal in a worse run than now, after Crystal Palace and Everton, and everybody was there. I don’t think we’ll be in trouble not to have the desire and personality to play.”
Mourinho praised the reactions of the trio who had not travelled in midweek and defended Branislav Ivanovic, who has worn the armband in Terry’s absence despite the deterioration of his own form. “We all communicate openly,” he said. “There are no prima donnas crying. Everyone wants to do well and accepts the criticisms, and when you make mistakes you have to speak about it. You know what I call that? In football? ‘Coaching’.
“I don’t have prima donnas who cannot be criticised and, of course, in front of the other players. Because I ‘coach’. When I criticise the mistake of my right-back Ivanovic and [the young reserve] Ola Aina is present, it’s an education for him. When I criticise a mistake by Gary Cahill and John Terry is in the meeting, if he hasn’t been playing, he knows what I want. If I criticise Willian for his movement, Pedro Rodríguez, a player I have only worked with for a few weeks, is listening and learning.
“I like the group to speak. I stimulate the group to speak. Sometimes, when they don’t do it enough, I ask questions so there is more communication. So, for Porto’s second goal on Tuesday, I asked the goalkeeper: ‘The goal is not your fault, but did you communicate enough? And were you speaking with the zone man, maybe somebody comes from behind, to anticipate that space? Did you speak with him enough?’ It’s normal. Begovic said he did, but that he could do it in a more persuasive way. So he can do better.”
Ivanovic, who has featured in all but one game this term, struggled again in midweek but Mourinho confirmed he still considers the Serb his “best right-back”. “Ivanovic likes to speak with me about his mistakes, and is not crying,” he added. “He’s not crying, he’s not a prima donna, and I’m critical with him. We speak about what he has to do to try and improve. Simple as that. But he’s a fantastic player. He’s not playing well but he’s a fantastic player.”
