No mutual relationship with media anymore, says Mourinho

The Chelsea manager has revealed he will be changing his relationship with the media, while also admitting he does not know if Eden Hazard will start against West Ham on Saturday

                                                  Getty images

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has insisted his current relationship with the media is over after telling the press that he will no longer be supplying "funny headlines" due to a lack of "respect".

Speaking to reporters ahead of the club's Premier League match with West Ham United on Saturday, the Blues boss fielded questions on Eden Hazard, West Ham United and improved results before turning on the media and lambasting the coverage of non-football matters.

"You are not going to get any funny headlines out of me. I treat you the same way your bosses treat me: no respect. No respect," Mourinho told a news conference.

“I am not speaking about football. Football I will expect every type of critic, even the stupid ones. [But] private life and stupid things that you bring to the light...

“I don’t like it, so we go to a different level of professional relations.”

The Blues boss also offered no guarantee that Hazard will feature against West Ham, despite the Portuguese praising the 24-year-old's performance against Dynamo.

Hazard was dropped for the Blues last Premier League match, a 2-0 win over Aston Villa, but returned to the starting line-up for the 0-0 draw in Kiev, hitting the post early in the first half.

But Mourinho suggested he did not know if the Belgium winger will feature against Slaven Bilic's side, implying that he may once again find himself on the bench.


"I don't know [if he'll play on Saturday]," the Chelsea boss said.

"Hazard was part of that team that kept a clean sheet [on Tuesday]."

Mourinho was also drawn on his side's continued struggles following a poor start to the season, suggesting that the club are getting better with each game and producing positive displays while also praising Nemanja Matic, who earlier denied a rift with the manager.

"The victory against Aston Villa was a very good result, the draw against Kiev was a positive result," he added.

"To give you one example - Matic went from being on the bench versus Villa to be the Man of the Match for Uefa three days later."

"It is not easy to create chances in the Champions League. Especially away from home you don't see teams with 10 good chances - it's difficult.

"We had good occasions, we hit two posts and one of those was a great save.

"I think the performance was good personality, good team spirit, some very good individual performances - not one bad performance - but individually an improvement in the players' performances.

"A good feeling there is an improvement."

But ahead of Saturday's match against Bilic's West Ham, the Chelsea manager remained coy on the club's next opponents, refusing to give anything away.

"Look to the table, see where they are, see where we are, and then it's easy to take conclusions," the Portuguese continued.

"In Premier League we are not afraid to lose matches, we are going to play normal."



Source: GOAL