Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho knows that for now at least he will not be sacked following a crisis meeting with team owner Roman Abramovic, who told the Portuguese manager that things must improve after having watched last season’s champions struggle to win just two wins in eight games.
Following on from the meeting the Blues boss brought out his player to show that they were all firmly behind him as the team moved forward.
Top striker Diego Costa was not shy when it came to saying where he thought the team’s problems were saying: “The players are to blame.”
“Mourinho is giving us all the support we need. The players say he is the best manager we can have. Maybe he gets criticised because he is very good. Maybe he gets criticised because he is Mourinho.”
He added: “we came back from holiday very confident.”
“We thought we could go back to how it was last season, and before we realised it the team was in a bad situation.
“I’m going to be honest. I got injured at the end of last season and went on holiday. Maybe I got out of my diet and when I came back I was a bit overweight. I was not on top of my game.
“Yes, Mourinho has supported me, but he has supported all the players. It’s not that. I’m happy with the manager. We all feel the same way about Jose.
“He gets criticism because of the way he is. He’s direct, straightforward, he says what he thinks and what he believes to be the truth.
“Sometimes it’s not what people want to hear. But it’s the way he is. There are managers who say what people want to hear. I’d rather have someone who tells me straight up what happens, rather than sweet things.
“You can be selfish and blame it on the manager but I’m not going to do that. I’m responsible 100 per cent and so are the other guys.
“If you ask a million players who they would want as manager, they will come back with a top three list of Mourinho, Pep Guardiola or Diego Simeone. He was one of the reasons I joined Chelsea.”
