Monday, 2 March 2015

Two Trophy-Blank Seasons Felt Like 20 Years --Mourinho

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho admits his last two years without
silverware had felt like ages after claiming the League Cup with
victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

The Portuguese won his first trophy of his second spell at Stamford
Bridge with a 2-0 win over Spurs, courtesy of a deflected John Terry
goal and Kyle Walker own goal.

It put paid to a 34-month wait for major silverware for the
52-year-old- the longest of his managerial career. His last title came
in May 2012, when he clinched the Spanish La Liga with Real Madrid. He
followed that with the Spanish Super Cup trophy months later, but has
had to settle for second-placed finishes in the Premier League and La
Liga and a runners-up medal in the Copa del Rey.

"I see myself with titles. It is difficult for me to live without
them. I need to feed myself with titles," Mourinho said after Sunday's
triumph at a rain-soaked Wembley Stadium.

"The two seasons [2012/13 and 2013/14] without a trophy have felt like
20 years. It's a good problem to have that feeling and it's important
for me to feel the same way today as I did with my first final.

"At 52 years of age I feel like a kid, I need to have that same happiness."

It was his third Capital One Cup success having won the competition
twice in his previous tenure as Chelsea boss. Mourinho's first title
as Chelsea manager came in the same competition and he hopes, like ten
years ago, he and the younger generation of Blues family have just
signed up for another trophy-laden spell.

"For Chelsea this is one more cup, but it's the first one of a new
team," Mourinho said. "Petr Cech, John Terry, Didier Drogba - they
have won plenty with the club but after that it is a new generation of
players.

"And it is not just a trophy for the likes of [Cesar] Azpilicueta,
Diego [Costa], but I think also about [Andre] Schurrle, about
[Mohamed] Salah.

"They are guys who started the season with us and are now not at the
club, but the success is for them as it is the rest of the team."

One standout member of the new generation in the Wembley victory was
20-year-old French centre-back, Kurt Zouma, who was deployed as an
auxiliary holding midfielder in the absence of the suspended Nemanja
Matic and the injured John Obi Mikel.

On Zouma, the Chelsea boss said: "It's very difficult for a central
defender to play there. Because central defenders, they don't
(usually) have pressure from behind. They are pressed in their faces,
not pressed from behind.

"In that position, you're surrounded by players. You have to think
quick, you have to decide quick. It's very, very difficult, but our
new Marcel Desailly, he worked hard during the week and did a
fantastic job for us."

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