Jose Mourinho hits back at Chelsea critics: 'I'm a fantastic manager when I'm not winning, I'm a fantastic manager when I am winning'

Chelsea have been roundly criticised for their poor start to the season

(Getty Images)

Jose Mourinho launched another fulsome attack on his critics tonight, claiming that he was still “a fantastic manager” whether he was winning or losing.

Having watched his Chelsea team beat a lightweight Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-0 in their first Champions League Group G game, Mourinho joked that he had “forgotten” what it felt like to win games. Asked how it felt for the home support to stand up and chant his name in solidarity after such a poor start to the Premier League season, Mourinho said that the Chelsea fans knew how much he had achieved for the club.

He said: “I'm not there waiting for that kind of support, but it's obviously welcome. I prefer that to them saying 'Mourinho out'. That [their support] shows they don't read papers or don't have short memories. They support me. For a Chelsea fan, there's an easy way to think: ‘We won four Premier Leagues, three with him, and one with his team. So this guy is not bad. Let's support the guy. We have a chance to win a fifth’.”

Asked who he perceived to be his critics - whom he had accused of having waited for Chelsea to stumble, Mourinho needed no second invitation to attack the same media he often professes to ignore. He said: “The people who are not happy with so many years and so much success. It's human nature. [Wayne] Rooney was a disaster, and suddenly he beats the record with England and he's suddenly the best player in the history of English football.

“You like up and down. It's not like that. Rooney is a fantastic player when he's not scoring goals or when he is. I'm a fantastic manager when I'm not winning matches and I'm a fantastic manager when I am. The pundits get big money not to say easy things. They have to be geniuses in their analysis or they don't deserve the money they get.”

Mourinho denied that there was any friction between him and John Terry, one of a number of senior players who watched the game from the bench with Saturday’s Premier League game against Arsenal in mind. The BT Sport pundit Steven Gerrard had suggested that there must be a problem between the pair.

"If @ChelseaFC want to be successful they need John Terry in the team." Gerrard warns Blues ahead of #UCL opener. http://t.co/izW1qS2cV4

— BT Sport Football (@btsportfootball) September 16, 2015

Mourinho said: “Steven is wrong. I like him very much and I have a good relation with him. Sometimes we contact each other by SMS. I admire him a lot. He has the same feelings about myself. But he's wrong. We [Mourinho and Terry] have no problems at all.”

Mourinho said that Willian, injured in the first half having opened the scoring will miss Saturday’s game, so too Pedro. Asked whether Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who started against Maccabi, would play against Arsenal, Mourinho would only say that he thought the 19-year-old had played well.Jose Mourinho launched another fulsome attack on his critics tonight, claiming that he was still “a fantastic manager” whether he was winning or losing.

Having watched his Chelsea team beat a lightweight Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-0 in their first Champions League Group G game, Mourinho joked that he had “forgotten” what it felt like to win games. Asked how it felt for the home support to stand up and chant his name in solidarity after such a poor start to the Premier League season, Mourinho said that the Chelsea fans knew how much he had achieved for the club.

He said: “I'm not there waiting for that kind of support, but it's obviously welcome. I prefer that to them saying 'Mourinho out'. That [their support] shows they don't read papers or don't have short memories. They support me. For a Chelsea fan, there's an easy way to think: ‘We won four Premier Leagues, three with him, and one with his team. So this guy is not bad. Let's support the guy. We have a chance to win a fifth’.”

Asked who he perceived to be his critics - whom he had accused of having waited for Chelsea to stumble, Mourinho needed no second invitation to attack the same media he often professes to ignore. He said: “The people who are not happy with so many years and so much success. It's human nature. [Wayne] Rooney was a disaster, and suddenly he beats the record with England and he's suddenly the best player in the history of English football.

“You like up and down. It's not like that. Rooney is a fantastic player when he's not scoring goals or when he is. I'm a fantastic manager when I'm not winning matches and I'm a fantastic manager when I am. The pundits get big money not to say easy things. They have to be geniuses in their analysis or they don't deserve the money they get.”

Mourinho denied that there was any friction between him and John Terry, one of a number of senior players who watched the game from the bench with Saturday’s Premier League game against Arsenal in mind. The BT Sport pundit Steven Gerrard had suggested that there must be a problem between the pair.

Mourinho said: “Steven is wrong. I like him very much and I have a good relation with him. Sometimes we contact each other by SMS. I admire him a lot. He has the same feelings about myself. But he's wrong. We [Mourinho and Terry] have no problems at all.”

Mourinho said that Willian, injured in the first half having opened the scoring will miss Saturday’s game, so too Pedro. Asked whether Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who started against Maccabi, would play against Arsenal, Mourinho would only say that he thought the 19-year-old had played well.