Jose Mourinho kicks off mind games with Frank Lampard
Speaking in a pre-match conference (h/t Express) before the derby on the weekend, Jose Mourinho has kicked off the mind games with Frank Lampard after saying that the title pressure should be on Chelsea instead of Tottenham.
Chelsea spent around £250 million this summer on new players, while Spurs were more reserved with their spending and spent £87 million; approximately one-third of the amount spent by their London counterparts.
Mourinho has had two managerial stints at Chelsea and spent around 2 years at Manchester United where the Portuguese was the one doing the big spending. (h/t Express)
Joso Mourinho conveyed his surprise at Chelsea boss Frank Lampard and Manchester United’s Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer not being put under the same level of pressure and expectations as him.
“What I felt is that was when I was in these clubs, there was huge pressure on me and now there is not huge pressure on the coaches of these teams. Put a little bit of pressure on them and leave us in peace, doing our job. I was at clubs which were, let’s say, champions in the market because of the powerful investment in the market I had to deal with that pressure.”
Mourinho stated that Chelsea are the ‘favorites’ this season because of their spending, and said that it is not his time to be under pressure anymore.
“When you are favourites, you know why you are favourites. And you have to accept that and you have to deal with that kind of pressure and responsibility. But now it’s not for me to deal with that pressure. It’s for others to deal with that pressure.”
The Portuguese stated that this summer of ‘reserved’ spending with Spurs was a new experience for him, one that was completely different from the time when he was at Chelsea.
“I’ve been at Chelsea before and I know the difference but I enjoyed very very much to do this first market with Tottenham… I enjoyed very much to do that kind of wise market where, with less money, you try to give a good balance to the team, not to make mistakes, choose the right guys.”
However, Frank Lampard did not let Mourinho’s comments fly past him and responded firmly, saying that Mourinho has plenty of pressure on himself.
“The pressures at Tottenham will be big because Jose built a fantastic squad and has incredible players. We all have pressures as managers. Jose was here as a manager so he understands it. It is very normal that a manager would try to take pressure off, and make comments about how much pressure is on or not…”
The two sides meet this weekend in a highly anticipated derby. Spurs are second in the table, while Chelsea lie in third, just two points off their London rivals.