Covering Jose’s Pre Match Press Conference

Chelsea face Norwich away at Carrow Road in a lunch time kick off on Sunday and Jose will be looking to keep the resurgence going after a couple of early hick-ups. Chelsea will be firm favorite for this one but Jose is not getting complacent, not one bit. Speaking in the pre match presser Jose said:

“They (Norwich) made a great investment this season. They had money to spend; they bought good players, players with a big future. The squad is very good. The manager is good, I like the way he coaches and the way he organises his teams.”
“Norwich are not a team to be fighting for survival, they are a team with a completely different perspective. It’s a difficult match for us, especially at home where they are normally very strong.”

Hazard Injury worries:
Eden who missed the midweek game in Europe is not yet cleared to play on Sunday and will be assessed tomorrow before any decision is made.

“He (Hazard) trained so-so today. He’s better, but let’s see tomorrow if he can be for the team. In this moment I’m not sure if he can play.”

MvG starts his long road to recovery:
Jose mentioned that MvG is back at Cobham as he begins his rehab back to fitness.
Fernando Torres:
Torres might be fit to play after the international break.

“Fernando (Torres) is calm. We have 15 days without matches, and after these 15 days he’ll be close to a return, if not to play against Cardiff or Schalke then for the Manchester City game.”

Torres avoided a 4 match ban after he was cleared by the FA for his actions on Vertonghen last Saturday which Jose feels was the right call by the FA.

“The ban for Fernando was more than enough because the second yellow card came from a simulation. The FA defended the principles and the values of English football”

With Torres out for the game vs Norwich Chelsea striker Eto’o might be in contention for the starting spot and Jose believes Samuel Eto’o will come good.

“He’s come back to the top level of European football and he needs a little bit of time to find that sharpness.”
“He’s playing a lot and he’s getting his form. He understands where he is, for an experienced player like him the Premier League is a different picture.”
“Players transform themselves over the years; they become stronger in some aspects and they lose some other qualities in other aspects.”
“With me at Inter he was playing many times wide and coming inside. I don’t think he can play the same way. He must play more as a pure number nine. Players are going to adapt in relation to their age, their position and their condition.”

Jose: I did not ‘Storm Out’:
A lot was written in the media about his pre-match press conference before the match vs Steaua in midweek and was widely reported in the media that Jose stormed out but Jose was quick to rubbish such claims and told it was not the case.

“What people wrote was not true. I had to go for the training session, Frank Lampard was coming after me. When my last question comes I didn’t want to wait for the translation, so I stood up and I said goodbye. Maybe people understand it in the wrong way,’ he said, before joking, ‘that’s fine, it sells!’”

Jose was also pleased with the call up for KDB to the Belgian Squad. He said:

“I am happy he has been selected, he is a very good player, his time will come for us.”

Assessing the team’s development so far this season Jose said:

“We have a lot to improve, a lot to work on. We will have ups and downs, I’m ready for that. After the defeat against Basel we won against Fulham, we did a fantastic second half against Tottenham, and under pressure we solved the situation in Bucharest. It looks to me like the players had a good reaction.”
“Today I was in the training session and I was feeling the way that the players were being successful in the tasks and exercises we gave them, it was showing that they breathe in a different way.”
“I like my team to be proactive and not reactive. The team was very proactive against Steaua, from the first minute we showed our mentality. The team kept going even with a 2-0 lead. This is the mentality I want.”