Jose Mourinho may be unbeaten this season but he appeared chastened as he arrived in Slovenia where Chelsea look set to secure a place in the Champions League knock-out phase and attempted to explain himself to supporters upset by his stinging words.
The charismatic manager admitted that he may have gone too far by claiming Stamford Bridge was like an empty stadium after Saturday’s win against QPR, but he insisted it was only because he cared too much.
‘Everybody knows how much I love the club,’ said the Chelsea boss. ‘How much I want it to improve and how much I want to be part of the club in the future. Everybody knows. Even a moment of criticism has to be analysed with different eyes, with the eyes of somebody who knows why I came back to Chelsea and why I’m here with my heart and why I want to stay for a long, long time.
‘I am just somebody who loves football a lot. I love my job. I am lucky to do my job in the club I like so much and feel such a connection and maybe that makes me lead the club with a different emotion.
‘If I don’t do it in a professional way and concentrate only on training and selection, it is because this is not, for me, just a job. It is more than that, because it’s Chelsea. Maybe I go a little bit too far.
‘But I see myself in the stands, watching Chelsea and I want to play, I want to help. If I’m not a player I cannot play, if I’m not a coach I cannot make decisions. If I’m just a fan what can I do to help? That’s just my view.’
Mourinho will balance the idea of and resting players against Maribor – thrashed 6-0 in London two weeks ago – with the desire to win Group G quickly. His team have a lunchtime date at Liverpool on Saturday but he will be conscious of how a young Chelsea team made a meal of beating League Two Shrewsbury in the Capital One Cup.
Maribor boss Ante Simundza insisted there would be ‘no fear’ but it hard to imagine Chelsea failing to top Group G from this position. They will qualify for the last 16 if they win tonight(WED) and Sporting Lisbon fail to beat Schalke in Portugal.
Perhaps with Liverpool’s team selection in Madrid in mind, Mourinho added: ‘I like the concept of going with a big club, full of big players, to a city where normally they don’t come. I think we have responsibility to play for us and also to play for the people. I know they don’t want us to win but to play for the people is to play well, and show what we can do.’