According to reports in The Times newspaper the reason that Jose Mourinho chose to make reference to a ‘betrayal’ by his players stems from the fact that he believes one of the members of his team leaked his team selection before Chelsea’s recent game against Porto.
Mourinho talked of a ‘betrayal’ in three separate interviews in the aftermath of the defending Premier League champion’s 2-1 loss to current league leaders Leicester City at the weekend. He was reportedly still furious over his belief that a member of his dressing room leaked information about his decision to drop Cesc Fabregas from his starting line-up for the Blues’ Champion’s League final group game against his former club last week.
Mourinho is known to be extremely secretive about his tactical plans, demanding that his players and staff don’t even tell family members or their agents whether or not they’ll be in the next game. Yet a former colleague from his time at Porto informed him that they knew that the Spanish midfielder Fabregas wouldn’t start the game before the team sheets were released, leading him to conclude that the information must have come from within his dressing room.
The self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ hasn’t yet discovered the culprit, but it’s understood that Fabregas himself is not a suspect as he spoke out in favour of his manager recently and said that ‘big players’ paid ‘big wages’ needed to justify their earnings.
During the 52 year old’s final season at Real Madrid similar issues emerged regarding Mourinho believing that his own players were leaking his tactics and team selections to the opposition, causing the Portuguese manager to talk of being ‘stabbed in the back’ when a detailed outline of his plans appeared in the Spanish media. Despite having success with Los Blancos it proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back of Mourinho’s management at The Santiago Bernabéu and he left the club in 2013.
In spite of the doubt surrounding the Chelsea manager’s future he still attended a Christmas party for Chelsea’s younger fans, as well as a hospital visit with his first-team squad on Wednesday. Relationships remain frosty, however, with Mourinho using the club’s official TV channel to launch an attack on his player’s professionalism.
Speaking on Chelsea TV the current manager said, “Some of them need to rethink how the way they live Chelsea, they live football, they live their job. Chelsea is big, football is more than a job, it’s a passion. Every match on the pitch you should live with an unbelievable passion. How many millions would love to be football players and they can’t be? You shouldn’t waste any minutes on the pitch, you should enjoy every minute and give absolutely everything. Yes, I feel frustrated with some players, and I feel that some others, they give everything and don’t deserve to lose”.