Jose Mourinho confronted the press in typically confident fashion following their League Cup exit at the hands of Stoke, saying that his players made the club’s critics “look stupid” for suggesting that they were not playing for him.
In a post-match press conference, Mourinho insisted that he was still enjoying his time as Chelsea manager, despite the criticisms routinely being leveled at him as Chelsea continue their poor run of form. When questioned over the club’s performance in their match against Stoke, which Chelsea lost on penalties, he said: “What the players did not tonight is they face some people who write, and they say, “you are stupid.” Honestly, you think the players are not with me? You think the players did not give everything to win the game?”
Watch Mourinho’s press conference in the video below:
Regardless of how well Chelsea performed, they still lost the match and have therefore dropped out of the League Cup. Despite this, Mourinho insisted that he “sleeps well” and said that the criticisms Chelsea have faced this season do not affect him, but rather his players.
“It’s not sad for me, but for the players,” Mourinho continued, adding: “I think it’s a lack of respect to the players, not to me. For me it would be a fantastic situation if the players were against me, [because then] I could say we don’t have the results because the players are against me.”
Chelsea lost the match after Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland turned away an Eden Hazard penalty, meaning that Chelsea have now lost all five of their penalty shootouts under Jose Mourinho.
