Ruben Loftus-Cheek was involved tonight, and the manager had some advice for the midfielder
‘Ruben said he had a pain in his back but what I was feeling was that he only had the pain when Sydney had the ball. When Chelsea had the ball he was playing very well, but when Sydney had the ball I think he was more impressed by watching Matic and Mikel work, instead of him working.
‘So, with Ruben, it’s one step back in terms of my relationship with him. If he doesn’t know what it is to play for me and Chelsea it’s one step back.
‘He has to learn that at 19 you have to run three times more than the others, you have to play to your limits and not play like a superstar with the ball at your feet because this is not Under-18s.
‘The Under-18 competition is too easy for him. He’s too good to play in the Under-18s but I don’t accept that when he’s playing in midfield with Mikel and Matic when we don’t have the ball he doesn’t press, doesn’t have intensity and he’s waiting for everybody else to recover the ball. I don’t accept that in the superstars so how can I accept that in a kid? He has to learn what it takes to play for us.’
Så er Ruben forhåbentlig klar på at give den hele armen d. 23/7.
Det er dog fint, at Mourinho giver ham denne pegefinger, da jeg er fuldstændig enig, for Ruben havde nogle fantastiske offensive aktioner, men han gjorde ikke meget defensivt.
He was pleased Diego Costa played most of the first half
‘Diego was another one that respected what we found. We felt it when we arrived, in the hotel and at training. We wanted to try to play our best players. This group of 10 seniors, we played them all. Diego tried, we didn’t want to take any risks. I told him to give the fans at least half an hour and he played until the 40th minute, we felt that was enough.’
The Blues boss also rubbished recent reports surrounding the striker
‘He’s the guy responsible for everything good we have in the dressing room. He’s so happy, so funny, he enjoys every minute and is the happiest guy in the dressing room. If this is unhappiness I’m happy with that. He was not happy with the news.’
Og så kan folks Costa-paranoia måske falde lidt igen, Utroligt at man hopper på sådan noget MARCA fis.