I’M FANTASTIC!

Mourinho defiant after Chelsea cruise to victory

JOSE MOURINHO claimed he is still one of the best managers in the business as Chelsea returned to winning ways last night.

The Premier League champions got their Champions League campaign off to a flying start with a 4-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv — only their second win of the season. Arsenal, meanwhile, had striker Olivier Giroud sent off in the first half of their 2-1 loss to Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia. Mourinho has been widely criticised following Chelsea’s poor start but he insisted: ‘ There are people who are not happy with so many successes. Wayne Rooney was a disaster, then he beats the record with England and he’s suddenly the best player in the history of English football. Rooney is a fantastic player when he’s not scoring goals or when he is.

‘I’m a fantastic manager when I’m not winning matches and I’m a fantastic manager when I am. I’d forgotten the winning feeling, it was so long we’d not won a game. So it’s a good feeling. You like up and down, but it’s

not like that. The pundits get big money not to say easy things. They have to be geniuses in their analysis or they don’t deserve the money they get.’ Mourinho made a host of changes for last night’s clash, with regulars including John Terry, Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic dropped in place of Kurt Zouma, Loic Remy and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. And the Blues boss was impressed with his fringe players, saying: ‘The team were more aggressive with and without the ball. Without the ball you could see the pressing was much stronger, the lines much more together, and there was a very good reaction when we lost the ball to try to recover immediately and force a mistake in our opponents. ‘We moved the ball very well when we had it.’ Mourinho is adamant there are no problems between skipper Terry and himself. The Chelsea boss was on the bench for last night’s clash, Mourinho playing Gary Cahill and Kurt Zouma at centre back. In his role as a BT Sport pundit, Steven Gerrard suggested there was some friction between Terry and his manager. ‘Something’s clearly happening behind the scenes,’ said Gerrard. ‘Chelsea were champions three months ago, they were the best team in the Premier League. You can’t have that many problems in a team so quickly.’ But Mourinho responded: ‘Steven is wrong. I like him very much and I have a good relationship with him. Sometimes we contact each other by SMS. I admire him a lot. He has the same feelings about myself. ‘But he’s wrong. We have no problems at all.’