Mourinho: I have no crying prima donnas at Chelsea
Jose Mourinho insists there are no ‘crying prima donnas’ in his Chelsea team and has revealed that he is openly criticising senior players during team meetings.
Mourinho has described his current run at Stamford Bridge is “the worst period in my career” as the Premier League champions have registered just two wins from seven Premier League games, while they head into Saturday’s clash with Southampton following a 2-1 defeat to Porto in the Champions League.
The 52-year-old has already indicated that he is unhappy with the performance levels of some of his players but is adamant that his team will not “hide” during their poor run of results.
“There is an animal that puts its head in the ground - an ostrich,” said the Chelsea manager.
“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.”
“We all communicate openly. 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 Ola Aina is present, it’s an education for him. When I criticise a mistake by Gary Cahill and John Terry it 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. [Asmir] Begovic said he did, but that he could do it in a more persuasive way. So he can do better.
“[Branislav] Ivanovic likes to speak with me about his mistakes, and is not crying. 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.”
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