http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/football/articles/13093888?source=Evening%2
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'Chelsea stars may have lost focus' (擷選)
Most people would like nothing more than a quiet fortnight at work but
Chelsea's head coach is no ordinary Jose. He is a special one, remember?
Having risen from life as an interpreter to the pinnacle European football
in less than 10 years, Mourinho has no concept of leisure time and views
barren weeks as a source of frustration rather than relaxation.
Mourinho without his players resembles a child deprived of their favourite
toy - impatient, resentful and struggling to fill the void. Whereas his
predecessor, Claudio Ranieri, would use international breaks to go and see
his family in Rome, Mourinho has trotted the globe in search of work,
preparing a report on the club's scouting network, attending an elite coaches
forum with Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger in Geneva and launching an
updated version of his autobiography in Lisbon.
Mourinho said: "I've been doing nothing and it's very frustrating. I've been
working in the club, had a few meetings in different areas such as scouting
and worked with the three of four players who were here.
"I went to watch the Republic of Ireland against Cyprus to show my support to
Damien Duff. I kept at it but the we couldn't do the real work on improving
the team and preparing them for the challenges ahead. It's been very difficult.
To improve you need to train and to train you need the players, so without
players there's no training, no work and no improvement. I hope they won't get
worse, as that can happen."
Mourinho's big fear is that the progress he made in the first three weeks of
the season could have been eroded by the players' time with their national
teams. Chelsea's midfielders and strikers, in particular, have had to adapt to
different roles and good habits are easily lost.
He said: "I didn't focus on the England match and was worried by a lot of
games so was zapping all night. I watched the Portugal match where I had
Paulo Ferreira and Tiago, the England match where I had three players and
Petr Cech playing for the Czech Republic.
"I watched the first half of England, the second half of Brazil against
Germany as I was very interested in Robert Huth, the last halfhour of the
Portugal match and the last few moments of the Czech Republic.
"When the players go away for 10 or 15 days they can get tired, pick up
injuries or lose focus. It's very difficult when they have just two days to
change and concentrate on their club matches.
"You never know how the players are going to react. I'll have this same
conversation with my players over the next few days and try to get their
minds focused. In the next five days we have two away matches against difficult
opponents and we need to get our performances right."
If Chelsea do slip below the level that has brought them straightforward wins
over Manchester United, Birmingham, Crystal Palace and Southampton, then Aston
Villa will be ready to capitalise. David O'Leary's side beat Chelsea twice at
Villa Park last season and Mourinho is aware that his team are vulnerable.
He said: "We want to continue winning but know that one day we will lose our
first match. That's football. I want to get maximum points as often as we can,
both in the Premiership and the Champions League, but it's not that easy.
Aston Villa is a difficult place to play. Chelsea lost there twice last season,
in the Carling Cup and Premiership, they have very good players and we know
what a difficult job we have."
Despite the difficult build-up, Mourinho will resist the temptation to make
wholesale changes. Arjen Robben is still out with an ankle injury and, Damien
Duff is unlikely to start despite playing twice for the Republic of Ireland
this week.
Mourinho said: "I don't think I'll make many changes but I will see what
condition my players are in. It's the beginning of the season so the players
should not be overworked.
"Damien played 35 minutes against Southampton and two matches for his
international team but he coped very well. He may be tired but he is felling
happy."
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