Fri, 8th Dec 2006
To mark the occasion of becoming a patron of the UK's leading children's cancer charity, CLIC Sargent, José Mourinho has given his most wide-ranging interview to date.
He looks closely at himself, his motivation and his methods and at the current Chelsea team with a wider glance at the game of football in England.
During this first part of the interview, Mourinho names the eight Chelsea players who on current form, he considers 'untouchable' in the team. He also opens the door for Andriy Shevchenko to join that group, explaining how they are working hard to together and how the striker will be given time to reach his peak.
Do you agree Shevchenko has not adapted very well yet?
I agree. But I also agree that the most difficult job in football is to be a striker. That's for sure.
It's much easier for a defender to adapt than a striker. The way football is played in Italy and England is completely different. We have in Thierry Henry the best example of that.
I was not here but I know he's the best goalscorer in the last years in this country, an amazing player, but he scored one goal in 12 Premiership matches when he first changed Juventus for Arsenal.
But he was very young and Shevchenko is a big star player.
But Thierry was already very, very good. We need to give him time. I am giving him time. The good thing is that he is not happy with the way he is performing.
If I am not happy and he is happy then we have a problem. He wouldn't work hard to go in my direction.
He's working very hard. After every game we now have feedback meetings where I can explain to him what I think we have to change.
And between the Manchester United game and the Bolton game, we worked together one-and-a-half hours, speaking about his game, and I could see easily the difference between the two games. He is going in the right direction.
The club has dismissed the idea but is there any pressure from Mr. Abramovich to play him?
Are you speaking seriously?
You would walk if told to pick a player?
For sure!
But Mr. Abramovich was keen to have him.
We were both keen to have him.
Is there not unspoken pressure knowing that the owner likes this guy and he is almost his fellow countryman?
He [Abramovich] is a very intelligent person. Maybe you don't know him as well as I do. But if you just look at the way he made himself, he must be a super-intelligent person.
I know him personally. I can say that he is very intelligent. The way he understands football now is different from two years ago. He learns very, very quick and he is very smart and he would never do this.
I don't understand. If he does this, it's because he doesn't trust the manager. If he doesn't trust the manager, he has enough money to sack me, to give me my compensation, to send me home and to bring another one in.
So the points is, is he happy with me? Yes. He respects me and my options. The day he doesn't respect me, just give me the cheque and send me home.
Do you think he [Abramovich] strives for more attractive games? Do you ever talk about that?
No.
Does he strive for European trophies?
We are in the same line. There was a change between Chelsea last season and Chelsea this season. It is clear that this Chelsea is more dominant.
I am not saying we are scoring a lot of goals, or more than in the past. But this Chelsea is more dominant.
Before when we were playing with Duff, Robben and only one striker, and building from our defence, we were very solid, very compact, defending behind the midfield line, winning the ball with quick transition.
We would pass forward to Duff and Robben who were very quick, very direct on the counter-attack. We'd score one goal, defend again, go again in transition and score the second one - and it was much more about this.
In this moment, we are the team of more possession. Against Bolton in the first-half, we had the ball all the time. Against Man United second-half, we had the ball all the time.
In Barcelona matches, they are normally the team with most possession in European football, but against us it wasn't 70-30 like it normally is.
Do you not aspire to having what players like Messi and Ronaldinho give to Barcelona?
That happens individually, in a certain context. Did you see the game where Ronaldinho made the bicycle-kick goal? So you saw the penalty that Gudjohnsen got too when it was 0-0?
That penalty doesn't happen in England. It's a different context. What I think is Chelsea players try to play good all the time. Sometimes it is possible. Sometimes it is not possible.
Could you incorporate Ronaldinho into your team?
If I answer that question I am in big trouble. If I say no, you tell me I am stupid because you don't want this player.
If I say `yes', Ronaldinho and his brother, they rub their hands together and go to negotiate a new contract with Barcelona. So it is the kind of answer I can't give!
When they see Robben and Cole on the bench, people are disappointed because they like to see them play. Do you understand that?
I always say this. Players pick the team, not me. If Joe Cole had an amazing game against Werder Bremen, do you think I don't play him against Man United the next game? I play him for sure.
Do you think if Robben comes on in the second-half against Manchester United and is man of the match, do you think I don't play him next game for sure. He was injured next game but even if wasn't, I wouldn't have played him.
I play the best players at the time. Makelele is untouchable because the way he plays. Essien is untouchable because the way he plays. Frank Lampard is untouchable because the way he plays. Not because I love them. But because the way they play.
Michael Ballack is untouchable because the way he plays. You can say he does not play well in Bremen, I understand that. You can say the first half in Man United he is not playing well. For me he is playing well. So these players are untouchable.
John Terry is untouchable, Ricardo Carvalho, Ashley Cole, Drogba, they are untouchable.
The right back is not untouchable. That is why I try this and this and this and that. I think this one in this moment is the best.
Sheva is not untouchable because of the way he is playing. That is why I play Joe Cole against Bremen. And I play Robben there, I play Kalou there. In this moment, we have eight untouchable players because the way they play.
It is about the way they perform. I've told the players that. Don't knock on my door. Don't knock on my office.
Don't speak with me about why I play or why I don't play. Don't send your friends to speak with the press and to say this or that. Don't do that. Show me!
I promise you I play the best players. So I think it is easy to have a selection when it is about how they behave on the pitch.
So has anyone dared knock on the door?
No.
There is a suggestion in this country that English players aren't coming through, no wealth of youngsters. Should we fear for the England team?
There is a lot of talent.
But at 18?
You have to try to understand why. I don't go so much to see that level, I have no time to try to find why. But I can understand some of the reasons.
I can see for example, that the reserve team competition should finish. It is nothing. This country has to think about a different way to give competition to young players.
The competition is not good enough. If I am a father and my boy is 18, I don't want him to play in the reserve team competition because the quality is not good enough, the motivation is not good enough, the pitches are not good enough. There is no motivation for the kids.
At the moment we have our best kids playing at Queens Park Rangers. We sent Jimmy Smith and Michael Mancienne to Queens Park Rangers because it is better to have them playing in the Coca Cola Championship than playing in the reserves on Monday.
I think this country should look to other countries, to France, to Spain.
Do you know where Real Madrid reserves play? In the Spanish equivalent of the Coca Cola League. There is a different way to look to these competitions.
At the age of 16, do you know how many times Porto kids have played against Benfica? The answer is 20. They play when they were 9, 10, 11, 12, in the national league.
They are used to atmospheres with big matches. You go to our kids of 16 and you know how many times they play Liverpool or Man United? Some of them never.
They go to the FA Youth Cup and if they lose, they are finished for the season. So the competitive shape at young levels is something you should look at.
Would you like Chelsea B to play in the Coca Cola championship like Real Madrid?
I would love to see it. I can tell you for sure that if that happened, players like Diarra, Mikel, Kalou, when they are not selected that weekend for the first team, they have a competition to play in a different level.
People would worry that it would be Chelsea in first place and Chelsea is second place.
But they cannot be promoted. Real Madrid B cannot be promoted. So Chelsea B could not be champions or be promoted.
They don't even play in the cup, to stop the possibility of Real Madrid A against Real Madrid B. But they have a higher competition to play.
Are you surprised the England national team hasn't achieved more?
They will do. They have to. They have quality, they have players.
The Chelsea players have won titles with me, and Liverpool boys and Man United boys, they have all won trophies.
And you had the generation before of Neville, Scholes and Beckham, at the top of the game, winning everything with Man United.
And they couldn't succeed with England with other managers before Sven so this is not a thing of Sven.
But why?
I can't go so deep. I don't know. Naturally they have to succeed and hopefully it is when these players are involved because they have a lot of talent and all them have Champions League experience.
They are at Man United, Liverpool, Chelsea, not Arsenal because they don't have English players, but all these players are at big clubs .
Would they win World Cup with you?
I have no idea.
You have ruled out the idea of managing England.
The England team is for English.