Jose Mourinho insists his life is 'fantastic' despite Chelsea's League Cup defeat to Stoke City

Manager remains bullish in face of latest setback for club

Mourinho saw Chelsea's reign as League Cup holders end at the Britannia (Reuters)

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has declared that he does not need any “reassurances” about his future and insisted that his life is “fantastic”, despite a defeat on penalties to Stoke City in Capital One Cup which continued a desperate season for his side.

Asked if he had received any further encouragement about the security of his situation from his superiors he said: “I don’t need it. I don’t need more.” After a first half performance which included some of the best football Chelsea have produced all season and a second half in which they faded, Mourinho said: “My general situation is fantastic. I have a day off tomorrow, fantastic family, I can sleep well every night. And Thursday, one more day like I have in the last 15 years of my life….”

It was a more upbeat and less defensive Mourinho who lingered in the Britannia Stadium press room to discuss a performance he clearly took encouragement from and to lavish praise on his players. He then launched into an prolonged criticism of former professionals whom he accused of making negative comments about his players because their own games had the same substandard elements they want to accuse Chelsea of. Mourinho is currently in a state of open warfare with Sky.

“I think what some people write and say is really bad for the players and because most of the people that does that, they were players,” Mourinho said. “Maybe they think my players are like them when they were players. Maybe they were able to do that. My players are not like that. They tried everything.” His edginess was tangible when he was asked a question by the BBC’s Trevor Sinclair and didn’t appear to recognise him. “Who are you?” he asked. When Sinclair explained, Mourinho told him that as a fellow professional he could explain the challenges of lifting the side to the colleagues who have criticised Chelsea.

Mourinho did not disagree with the notion that if things could go wrong at the moment, then they would. “Last year we won here 2-0,” he said. “We didn’t play 25 per cent of what we did today. We had one chance in the first half. We scored a goal. In the last 5-10 minutes, they were in complete control. We scored a second goal and win 2-0. This first half is to win the game, but they come in the second half, [and score a] goal. I think [my players] have to be frustrated because they are not getting what they deserve, especially staying with the game of today.”

The manager said that he was happy with his players’ performance in the defeat at West Ham on Saturday, but again refused to discuss his dismissal from the bench. “I don’t want to speak about last Saturday but if anyone saw the second half with 10 men how they did, once more it is a lack of respect for the players,” he said. “I feel sad for them, not for myself. Some people put in cause the moral principles of the players.”

The defeat flew in the face of a first half performance in which Chelsea showed imagination and vigour, operating with a confidence and a high defensive line that – their manager said – should have seen them “3-0 or 4-0” up at half time. He focussed less on a second half in which they struggled to create before Loic Remy scored in the 90th minute, or on 30 minutes of extra time, most of which Stoke played with ten men, following the dismissal of Phil Bardsley.

Mourinho said that he had no criticism of Eden Hazard, who missed the all-important tenth penalty kick, to hand the tie to Stoke. “If I have to blame someone it is the ones who tell the manager I don’t want to take it and run away.” He shut down the question of which players, if any, had asked not to take a kick.