Jose Mourinho has refused to blame his Chelsea players after the team’s worst start to a season since 1988 was compounded by a 3-1 loss to Everton, a team inspired by a Steven Naismith hat-trick.
The team is now in 16th place on the league table, having garnered 4 points from 5 matches, while fellow title contenders Manchester City have 15 points from the same number of games.
The Blues lost a game that many expected them to win and the Chelsea manager was quick to come to the defence of his players whom he called “champions”.
Waxing philosophical, Mourinho stated that it was normal to lose sometimes in a football game.
In an interview with BT Sport, he said: “I am champion, the players are the champions, the way they are playing is not as bad as the results but in every single game things are going against us.
“We have to cope with it, football is about results. It’s easy to say and I agree completely, but results are too bad.
“I don’t blame my players and I don’t blame myself. I don’t accept the results, I am responsible for the team, I am not happy with the situation and I am not happy with myself.
“I am with the players, I cannot be against them, I cannot have a bad feeling with them, that’s what makes me happy.
“I am happy that tomorrow I have to face them again and train with them and prepare them for the next game.
“I am sorry, until somebody wins the league we are the champions.
“I am coping well. I am not feeling pressure. The refugees are under big pressure. The results are the worst results ever in my career.
“I am not happy but I am coping well with the situation. The priority is to keep doing what we are doing, the players are feeling enough sadness.’
“We don’t deserve this result. The biggest concern is that everything goes against us. We are making mistakes but we are punished immediately.’
“I am the man for the job. I don’t think there is better man who could do my job. The title? I don’t know. It’s out of our hands.’
Chelsea’s next match is against Arsenal in Stamford Bridge, a game that observers say may determine whether Chelsea will defend the title they won in May or struggle to win a champions league spot.