Mourinho:Giving Chances

Mourinho:Giving Chances

Posted by David Aniemeka on Tuesday, 3 December 2013 0

Ahead of tonight's game against Sunderland, Jose
Mourinho has been speaking about the nature of
this season's Barclays Premier League and about
players in his squad without many games so far.
The Blues go into the match against Gustavo Poyet's
side looking to record a third consecutive league win
for only the second time this season, and with the
likes of Manchester United , Tottenham Hotspur and
Liverpool all dropping points at the weekend we find
ourselves in a strong position ahead of two
successive away matches.
'In the 13 fixtures we've all played so far I don't think
in one week all six of us got the three points,' said
the Blues boss.
'I may be wrong but I think every week one of us six
contenders lost points, and in many of the fixtures
more than one, or more than two, lost points.
'If one of us loses points it's not a big surprise, it's
just a consequence of how the Premier League is at
the moment. I don't remember, and I followed the
Premier League for many years since I left, a situation
like this previously.'
Assessing the other teams expected to be
challenging for the title next May, Mourinho believes
there is little to choose between them, but singled
out Manchester City for their vast array of options.
'The quality and profile of the players, and their
experience and average age, they don't have old
players or very young players,' explained the
Portuguese. 'They have players with maturity and big
experience; [Sergio] Aguero, [Edin] Dzeko, [Alvaro]
Negredo, [Stefan] Jovetic, these are the four strikers.
'You go through positions and you see people like
[Yaya] Toure and Fernandinho, nobody more than 30
and nobody below 23, the squad is absolutely
amazing, they have so many solutions.
'If you ask me the team with more ammunition I have
to try to be honest, I have to apologise to the other
four in case they are not happy with me, but my
feeling is that City are the team with most
ammunition.'
With eight games to play between now and the end
of December, there is little doubt Mourinho will need
to utilise the full depth of his squad over the coming
weeks in order to maximise performance levels.
Two players who will hope to be involved are Demba
Ba and Kevin De Bruyne, and though the duo have
featured only sparingly this season thus far, the
manager alluded to opportunities on the horizon for
both.
'It was Demba's first league goal [against
Southampton] but not the first time he gave a big
contribution, he works very hard for the team and
brings some different qualities,' said Mourinho.
'The work him and Fernando did on Sunday was
amazing, of course the goal was important for his
happiness and it was a crucial goal because it killed
the game. I'm not sleeping, Demba is showing me he
can help the team.
'Kevin is showing desire and working very hard. I feel
sorry for him that I haven't given him big
opportunities up to now but he's working better than
ever. Of course, he's sad when he's not selected or
not playing, but he's working in a very professional
way, which is a change from the beginning.
'When he works the way he's working he has to play
sooner or later. For tonight he's selected so he has a
chance to play and in this block of games, for sure,
he has to start matches.
'I like him as a player and I've learned now how to
like him as a kid because he's a good kid and he's
showing now he's a good professional, so hopefully I
can give him enough time on the pitch so he can be
happy.
'I understand he needs to play a bit more but it's the
area of the pitch where we have more options, but I
am speaking with him and we are working on that.
He can also play as a midfielder when we play with a
triangle, he did that for Werder Bremen, so hopefully
we can find more options for Kevin to play because I
like him very much.'

Sent From David Aniemeka