Jose Mourinho used his press conference after Chelsea beat West Bromwich Albion 3-2 at The Hawthorns to claim that people ‘love’ to see his club lose matches.
Speaking to BBC Sport Mourinho, who looked somewhat gaunt and spoke in a weakened voice, said after the match, “Many people are disappointed with this result. They love Chelsea to lose a game”.
The Chelsea manager was responding to questions about John Terry’s red card, shown to him after he appeared to drag Salomon Rondon back when the West Brom forward was through on goal. The Portuguese boss said, “I prefer to have no views and try to keep quiet”.
The comments from the self-proclaimed Special One seem to hint at a belief that there is a conspiracy against Chelsea going on behind the scenes. The Chelsea boss confirmed as much when he refused to pursue an appeal against the red card, stating, “I think we should but normally it’s a waste of time. It’s a ball into the space behind the full-back, the full-back is pressing high, the striker makes the movement and then Mr Clattenburg decides it’s a red card”.
If Mourinho failed to understand that footballing rivalry means there will always be people who are happy when other teams lose, he was somewhat more sanguine when it came to Pedro’s debut for the club. He said, “Pedro played well. We know he is a good player, more than good. There are lots of top players who come to the Premier League and it takes time to adapt but it looks like he has been with us for a long time because straight away he was in the game and he was important”.
Continuing his theme of suggesting there was some sort of conspiracy against Chelsea, the Portuguese manager said of Chelsea’s first win of the season, “The performance was not dramatic, and not bad but obviously four points in three matches is not enough. There is a feeling we are fighting against a lot but today we won”.
This is the first time in 17 years that Chelsea have failed to win either of the first two opening games and Mourinho knows that they will need to pick up their form if they hope to become the first team since Manchester United in 2008-2009 to win back to back Premier League titles.