Axe will fall on under par stars, warns Mourinho
CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho has warned his under-performing players that nobody is safe from the axe after his side’s uncharacteristically sluggish start to the season.
The Blues will seek respite from an underwhelming opening to the Premier League campaign tonight as they bid to build on their Champions League Group A victory against Maccabi Tel Aviv when they face Porto at Estadio do Dragao.
Mourinho has guided reigning champions Chelsea to just two wins in their opening seven Premier League matches this term, a sequence which the Portuguese insists makes it impossible for his team selection to be sacrosanct.
“Untouchables in football, only consistency can give you that status,” said Mourinho. “In this moment we have fantastic players, the players that gave us the title last season. But football is about today, it’s not about yesterday. In football you have to be consistent in your performance, in your emotion.
“To be a winner you don’t need to win all the time, but to be a winner you must have a strong mentality every game, every day. At this moment I don’t have untouchables.”
Mourinho will go head-to-head with Porto, a side he led to the Champions League title in 2004, buoyed by the availability of fiery striker Diego Costa, who is currently serving a three-match domestic ban.