Chelsea’s main aim this season is to create a legacy with attractive football, says Jose Mourinho.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho says that winning trophies is not his top priority at Stamford Bridge this season, and that his biggest aim is to create an attractive playing style.
It is completely different,” said Mourinho of his first spell in charge of the Blues.
“When I arrived before, the profile of the players was different – the profile of the club was different – and these are the most important things: the club and the players.
“It was a club without titles, with an incredible need to be pushed, and the best way to be pushed was to win titles and to make sure the club was being looked at as a champion.
“The club needed, at that time, to be champions and to be seen around the world to win a title. So, everything was guided completely in this direction and everybody knew that the most important thing from the point of view of the club over the next years was to win. To win the Premier League for the first time was the most important thing.
“The profile of the players was also completely different. It was a very physical team with very experienced players, who were in the best moment of their careers, and we adopted a style very much suited to the reality, or the needs, of the Premier League.
“This time, the profile is different. Of course, the club wants to win, but we want to build a team with a certain identity.
“We have to build an identity to this team and adapt it to the quality of the players.
“The moment I finished at Chelsea, I projected my new challenges – to win in Italy, to win in Spain and to win every title in all three countries. After that, I have moved on to another phase, where I know where I like and where I want to be and where I want to dedicate myself fully to a club.
“So, in this moment of my career, my challenge is to give everything I have to one club and stay in that club for as long as that club wants because, from a personal point of view, there is no more motivation for adventures or for new experiences.
“My motivation now is to build stability for this club and it is something new also for me that I want very much to do.”
The Portuguese boss has often been regarded as a short term manager, thanks to spells of no more than three years at each of his six previous clubs.
Indeed, there is a theory that Mourinho pushes his teams to the maximum in the first couple of years he has with the team, but the squad is unable to sustain such fierce and gruellingly intense levels.
A clear example would be when Rafa Benitez took over his Inter Milan team, when after winning the Serie A title, UEFA Champions League and Coppa Italia under Mourinho, they went into a steady decline.
Internazionale are not even in Europe this season, failing to qualify for either UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League for the first time since 1999, and are already seven points behind leaders AS Roma in Serie A, who thrashed them 3-0 at the San Siro at the weekend.
Perhaps Chelsea will be different though, and with the most successful manager in their history back in charge, Jose Mourinho will hope to win both trophies and plaudits for his team’s playing style at Stamford Bridge.
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