Jose Mourinho proud to receive Chelsea backing
Chelsea boss, Jose Mourinho must be a relieved man for now. With the International break on, he can introspect as to what has gone wrong for the defending champions. To be fair to him, he desperately needs some time to look for the root cause of his team’s dismal performances, and the break couldn’t have come at a better time for him.
Having received club’s full support, he told La Gazzetta dello Sport that he is proud to be openly backed by the club, despite languishing on 16th position after eight matches.
"I'm really proud of it," he said. "It shows the faith [owner Roman] Abramovich has in the manager who has won three Premier League titles with this club. I thank him and continue my work."
"I don't know what's wrong," the Portuguese continued. "Chelsea's results right now are truly awful. I cannot, nor do I want to hide the reality. And I'm struggling to find an explanation. But I can assure you this: I'm working harder than ever before and we will get through this.
"And then there is the Champions League, which I'm certainly not going to abandon."
Mourinho also received full support from the players, with the senior figure of John Terry reiterating his team mates point of view.
He said, "We have a big group of players and we have the best manager, who we remain behind, and we remain together. That is what you do in tough circumstances."
“ I have been here a long time and I have seen managers come and go and if anyone is going to get us out of this hole it is going to be Jose Mourinho. And the players will remain together and fight, and keep fighting for the supporters because they were excellent on Saturday.”
Mourinho also talked about Serie A in the interview, he finds a lot of similarity between Chelsea’s and Juventus’s start to the season. "Serie A has never been as open as it is today," Mourinho said. "It seems like Juve have started a bit like Chelsea, and like Chelsea they will bounce back. It's just a matter of time. Roma and Napoli are the two clubs who could benefit in a season where Juve are no longer overwhelming favourites."
He also praised Fiorentina’s manager Paulo Sousa, La Viola currently sit on the top of Serie A table.
"Paulo's a great coach," Mourinho said. "I'm delighted for him. He's worked a lot and hard to get here. There are many coaches who start off in a big club without getting some fundamental experience, yet he was humble and worked in Hungary, Israel, in the Championship and in Switzerland.”
"It's only now that he's ready and prepared for Italy. He's studious; he gathers in formation. You can see his handwriting on Fiorentina.”
When quizzed about Inter Milan, whom he helped to win the Champions League, he said, "I wouldn't be that disappointed if I were a Nerazzurri fan either. Compared to recent years, Inter are doing really well. They've started the season to fight for the Scudetto. They are in the group of candidates."