Mourinho: Safe situation

 
   
     As he prepares his side for Monday’s visit to Burnley, our opening game of the new Barclays Premier League season, Jose Mourinho believes his goalkeeping selection issue is the type of problem any manager in world football would welcome.

    Chelsea head to Turf Moor to round off the opening weekend’s fixtures, but whether it’s Petr Cech or Thibaut Courtois lining up in goal for the Blues remains to be seen.

    Mourinho will announce his decision to the squad on Sunday, but believes such a positive selection headache can only benefit his side as we enter the new campaign.

    ‘I can’t tell you (who will play) because they don’t know and the team doesn’t know,’ he said.

    ‘What I can say is that in my opinion, with all respect to fantastic goalkeepers around the world, I think Chelsea has two of the three best goalkeepers in the world, which is unique.

    ‘Is it a problem for me? It’s a great problem because they are both fantastic. Even Schwarzer, who is at a different age and a different level at this moment, is a good goalkeeper. But, to have Cech and Courtois is a good problem every manager in every club would like to have.

    ‘It’s not easy because I don’t think any manager is happy to see one player in an uncomfortable situation, so from that that perspective it’s not easy for me. I like to see people happy. I understand that for goalkeepers who could play for any club in the world, and here one of them is going to be on the bench, it’s a difficult situation, but for Chelsea Football Club it’s a great situation.

    ‘Obviously during the season if one is definitely my first choice I will have to support and stimulate the other one. I can’t have one incredible goalkeeper on the bench for three or four months waiting for a Capital One Cup game.

   ‘The best way for me to work is to think in a pragmatic way, in a cold way too. It’s to forget and hide the emotions around the situation and decide what’s best for the team and the club. It’s a very safe situation.’

   Over the course of the summer, Mourinho has bolstered his squad with the acquisitions of Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa, Filipe Luis and Didier Drogba.
  
    The new arrivals have enjoyed a productive pre-season campaign, with the manager certain their presence within the group gives us a chance of winning the Premier League title.

   ‘Last season we were not feeling as though we were a title contender but in fact we finished very close to the title,’ said the Portuguese. ‘We didn’t feel like one of the favourites for the Champions League and we played a semi-final, so we did well.

    ‘This season obviously we bought some key players, we believe and we are feeling that the new players have brought the squad and team into another dimension.
  
    ‘Yes we are title contenders, if you expect me to say we will win the Premier League I can’t say that. I can’t because I have to respect the competition, which is the only one that has more than two title contenders. I have to respect the opponents and efforts the other teams made to improve their already top teams, but we all feel we are title contenders.’

    The possibility of further transfer business, either incoming or outgoing, cannot be ruled out until the closure of the window at the end of the month, but Mourinho is pleased with the players he currently has at his disposal.
  
     ‘The market is open and experience tells us all you can never say what’s going to happen,’ he stated.

    ‘You never know if another club will try to do something with our players. The reality, and the most important thing, is that I’m very happy with my squad and I’m very happy with my club. The structure that supports me did fantastic work. The club were fantastic in the way they were fighting and working to give me what I needed.

‘We finally have a significant number of Under-21s and players who will be considered home-grown in the next couple of years, that’s very important for Chelsea, we are also going in that direction. The squad has experience, character and personality. The squad has players with ambition and cover in all positions, so I’m very happy.’

    As ever, we head into the new season with big ambitions.

    The manager, however, is simply focused on ensuring his side head back to the capital on Monday with maximum points.

    ‘I understand that because of mine and Chelsea’s last 10 years expectations are high but I really don’t care about it,’ said Mourinho. ‘I just want to be myself, work hard every day, have ambition to win the next game, it doesn’t matter where, in which competition or against which opponent, that’s part of me.

   ‘I want to win against Burnley, that’s the first step, and to win against Burnley will be very hard.’