Mikel has swipe at Mourinho
‘Guus never interferes’
John Mikel obi has launched a series of thinlyveiled jibes at Jose Mourinho, indicating the players were more relaxed ‘from day one’ of Guus hiddink’s short reign and that the Dutchman ‘doesn’t get into people’s business’.
The squad feel respected again, the midfielder explained after their 5-1 FA Cup mauling of Manchester City, and the atmosphere at their Cobham training ground has changed totally since Mourinho was sacked in December.
Mikel claims that the majority of the team would like hiddink to continue as Chelsea manager beyond his short-term deal which ends in the summer. The 29-year- old struggled under Mourinho, who preferred the partnership of Cesc Fabregas and nemanja Matic in central midfield, but has become a regular under Chelsea’s interim boss.
‘From day one, since Guus has come in, the atmosphere has changed,’ said Mikel. ‘The players feel more relaxed, people know what their jobs are and people are getting on with their jobs in a more relaxed way. And a way they can perform very well.
‘he has given responsibility to people and expects them to thrive on it and make sure they feel comfortable.
‘When you come into the training ground, the players are more relaxed. he doesn’t get into people’s business, he gets on with his own thing and players feel very comfortable. When he gets on the training pitch, he doesn’t need to speak. We all know what he wants and it is the same when we go into a game.’
Mourinho berating players publicly for poor performances was met with disapproval by many of them. he described John Terry and kurt Zouma’s defending against leicester City as a ‘betrayal’ and he had a fractious relationship with Diego Costa, who hurled a bib at him after he was left on the bench against Tottenham. Costa has nine goals in 13 games since the Portuguese left.
The team have displayed a notable revival under hiddink, winning five, drawing six and losing just one of his 12 games in charge. The Premier league is out of reach, but he is still in the Champions league and the FA Cup — the competition he won in his previous spell in 2009 — and Mikel insists the players would like him to remain beyond this season.
‘i want him to stay,’ he said. ‘it is the choice of the owner, the club and the board. They will have to decide. but if you speak to the players, 98 or 99 per cent of them want him to stay. Guus has said he is only here until the end of the season but you never know, he might change his mind.’
CHELSEA are hoping their anonymous text and email reporting service will help catch the fans who threw coins at Manchester City players as they celebrated their goal.
The club strongly condemned the incident and will hand life bans to anyone they can identify. The Metropolitan Police are also investigating.
As well as analysing CCTV, the club are hopeful their ‘building bridges’ service, which lets match-goers report incidents, yields results. Fans can email
buildingbridges@chelseafc.com or
call 0207 386 3355.