Jose’s press-conference: “I feel I am unfair to all of the ones I am not selecting.”

Jose Mourinho gave his answers to a press-room full of journalists before the team travel to Newcastle to take on ‘the Magpies’ at Satruday’s premier league kick-off. The Portuguese manager infamously claimed at the press-conference that he feels ‘unfair’ to the players he will be leaving out tomorrow following two great performances from two different teams this past week.

We beat Man City at Stamford Bridge last Sunday with a last-gasp finish from Fernando Torres at stoppage time and in mid-week, we hammered Arsenal with a 2nd team that included only one player that started against Man City. That player was Gary Cahill. But, the main point Mourinho put forward is his satisfaction in a way the players that were selected against Arsenal performed following a snub for the crucial EPL game against ‘title favorites’ Man City last weekend.

Now, let’s take a look at some key points we learned from the Press-conference with quotes and analyze the situation from my point-of-view.

Selection problems ‘good problems’ 

One of the questions the Special One faced in the press-room was how difficult or easy it is for him to select a starting 11 at the moment. And his answer was…

‘It is a bad feeling because it is not easy for me to leave some players at home and it is not easy for me to leave some players on the bench, because everyone deserves to play,’ Mourinho said.

‘To have all the choices is a good problem, and to have all the players playing well and very much committed and with the group is fantastic, but to be the man responsible for saying you don’t play or you are on the bench, is at this moment very hard because I feel I am unfair to all of the ones I am not selecting.

‘They are doing everything to play,’ he emphasized. ‘When they are on the bench and they come on they make an impact, When they have the chance to start they do well. I changed the team and they played a magnificent match at the Emirates, so at this moment it is a difficult feeling for me because I am unfair with some of them.’

Again, as I mentioned earlier, Jose is totally on point right there and it’s better having a strong squad depth with difficulty to choose who will start and who doesn’t rather than having a thin squad like last year with fixture pile-up in the latter stages of the season.

Not taking credit for Fernando Torres’ BRILLIANT form recently

Another question for the Special one was that of in-form striker Fernando Torres. The Spaniard’s name is on every lip of fans and papers in the media following his good run of form since scoring two goals against Schalke and a stunning Man of the Match performance against Man City. But, what did Jose say when asked if he was to take credit for that form?

‘I repeat I did nothing. I did what I always do in trying to get the best out of the players, but in a very normal way. Fernando is responsible for his self-motivation and his commitment and the way he is working every day.

‘I don’t want Fernando to be influenced by these wins. I want him to be stable and not worried about proving himself or worried about scoring or not scoring. Against Newcastle he just needs to work for the team.’

It surely might have little to do with the style of play Jose organized his teams to attack in games like against Schalke, Man city and the Super cup game last August against Bayern Munich. His selections in all this 3 matches concentrated on a counter-attacking football and keeping possession when possible. And the lightning quick transition from defense to attack through Schurrle and Oscar has worked in the favor of Torres who made no mistake in taking those chances. But, the way he worked hard and run through out the game against Man city proves his work ethic. That’s exactly what Jose wants him to do consistently: work for the team.

Premier League standings and chance to go top of the table

A usual question to every manager ahead of EPL weekend came in the form of what Jose feels on being top of the table at least for some time till Arsenal play Liverpool at Emirates hours later. Here’s the response…

‘What is important is to go in the right direction, and that is to play the way we are playing,’ said Mourinho, considering that possibility.

‘We feel we are improving and the quality of our games is good. We won every match in October and we had to play Schalke and Arsenal away and Man City at home, so it was not an easy month.

‘But being top or not at this stage is a question of one, two or three points so it is not very important. Of course it is better to be first than be fifth. Now we go to Newcastle which is one of the most difficult games in the whole season. It is very difficult to play at St James’ Park but we are going to try.’

This were some of the quotes and main points we chose to discuss from the press-conference. Let’s wish Chelsea a good win and safe travel back to London for the time being as we hope to keep the recent winning streak across all competitions, especially in the EPL. Thanks for reading and follow on twitter (@FahmiCFC). KTBFFH!!!