BANGKOK – Jose Mourinho said Tuesday Chelsea would be gunning for victory in all four competitions this season as he prepared to kick off his second spell in charge with a friendly in Bangkok.
The 50-year-old Portuguese said
there were “no priorities” for Chelsea as they tackle the Premier League,
Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup, following their pre-season tour of
Asia and the United States.
New Chelsea FC manager, Jose
Mourinho unveiled to the press at Stamford Bridge on Monday, June 10, 2013
“The next match is the important one. If our next match is the Champions League, the Champions League is our competition,” Mourinho told a press conference.
“And the same with the Cups because
we know what the English Cups mean, especially the FA. And we want to play
every competition with this mentality — so for us, no priorities.”
Mourinho won back-to-back Premier League
trophies, the FA Cup and two League Cups during his first time in London. But
the Champions League, which he has lifted with Porto and Inter Milan, remained
elusive.
He named Manchester United and
Manchester City, the two most recent winners of the Premier League and both
also under new management, as his main competition in England.
“In European football we have more
candidates (to win the Champions League) and because of that it’s more
difficult to win, but we want to be there and we will be fighting for it,”
Mourinho added.
Mourinho said he would try to
instill a winning culture from his very first game on Wednesday — against the
Singha All-Star XI, who shocked Manchester United 1-0 last week in David
Moyes’s debut game in charge.
The Portuguese, known for his
meticulous attention to detail, said he had sent his assistant to scout
Saturday’s game and give him a tactical blueprint of the opponents, whom he
rated as dangerous.
“I don’t like to lose, the players
don’t like to lose… for sure, tomorrow my boys will try to get a result,” he
said. “Losing is not a drama, losing doesn’t change anything in the team. But
it’s not nice, we don’t like it.
“Winning is part of the culture and
if you can do that even in friendly matches, you have to do it.”
Mourinho also deflected the latest
transfer speculation, which includes links with Manchester United’s Wayne
Rooney, Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke and even former Chelsea ace
Didier Drogba, 35.
“Managers of big clubs are connected
with everybody until August 31,” he said, referring to the end of the
July-August transfer window.
“That’s the old story in football:
rumours and rumours and rumours, and at the end of the day after so many
rumours, something becomes true.
“But in this moment I’m so happy
with the people I have here that I’m not thinking about other players.” AFP
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