Jose Mourinho: 'In everything you do in life, you need confidence to be better'
Blame it on confidence.
Speaking ahead of Chelsea's Premier League fixture versus Arsenal, a match that will see Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger renew their bitter feud, the Special One went on one of his classic rants, detailing how a poor run of form, like the one his club is experiencing, triggers dramatic explanations when the reality is that a lack of confidence is at fault.
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Chelsea's title defense is off to a dreadful start, as the club has only one win to its name through five Premier League matchdays and sits 17th in the table, hovering above the relegation zone in uncharacteristic fashion.
"In everything you do in life, you need confidence to be better," Mourinho said, according to the Guardian. "In football, when you lose matches, you are affected. You can say you're not but you are. Normally, when bad things in football happen, the first thing is to find a dramatic story.
"Someone punched someone in the dressing room. The manager doesn't want to speak with this guy. Diego Costa fought with John Terry and before they start the fight, they brought a translator for them to understand each other because Diego cannot speak English and John cannot speak Spanish.
"They organise it like the Wild West duels. We are going to fight at this time, bring a translator to help us. Or, Mourinho doesn't want to give new contracts to Terry and (Branislav) Ivanovic. Mourinho instructs the scouts to find a new right-back urgently."
Mourinho continued:
The real direction is that you lose matches, and you are affected. You lose confidence, you don't want the ball. You are afraid of the ball. You fear the worst. The ball goes to your box and you think the worst. You are in front of the opponents' goalkeeper and you are afraid to shoot. You are affected.
The good thing against Maccabi (Tel-Aviv) was that, after speaking about a strong start, we missed a penalty after five minutes but there was a fantastic reaction. We kept going, we kept playing. I don't say that the victory was what we need now to win 15 matches in a row. I'm saying it's important for people to be a bit more relaxed, a bit more confident. To taste victory again is important.
Willian is unavailable for Saturday's clash at Stamford Bridge due to the muscle injury that he picked up versus Maccabi, while Pedro, Oscar, and Radamel Falcao are doubts.