Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has refuted claims he has created a siege mentality at Stamford Bridge.
The charismatic Portuguese broke his silence last night after refusing to speak to the press following Diego Costa's stamping ban and a £25,000 fine for ‘campaign’ comments.
Sir Alex Ferguson regularly made his Manchester United players feel victimised during his years at Old Trafford and Blues ace Willian recently suggested Mourinho has followed suit.
The Brazilian spoke of Mourinho motivating and protecting the group by talking about an ‘agenda’ against Chelsea.
However, the Special One himself says he doesn’t need to use such tactics as the Blues are already a tight-knit group.
Mourinho said: “We are a strong group. The players are a good family. They are a good group. They fight for each other so I don’t think I need to try to use any kind of influence to make the group strong.
“They are friends. Cahill on the bench supporting the kids. Drogba on the bench supporting Remy. Azpilicueta on the bench a few matches supporting Filipe and vice versa. Petr and Courtois. They are good guys who want to win and they know the only way to do it is to support each other.”
Mourinho appeared grumpy and agitated when breaking his silence at his Friday press conference, admitting he was only in attendance to avoid further punishment.
But the Chelsea manager confirmed he was still enjoying his life in England and the opportunity to challenge for the Premier League crown again.
He added: “I enjoy the challenge of the English competition. I didn’t want to choose an easy championship to win.
“I didn’t want to choose a championship where you only win or win. I wanted to come to the most difficult one.
“And I’m happy with that because I think everyone who wants to be better, as a player or a manager, the best way to do it is to have real competition from day one. That’s what we’ve had.”
Chelsea are five points clear of Manchester City going into this weekend’s away game at Aston Villa.
Cesc Fabregas is set to return from injury while new signing Juan Cuadrado could make his debut after joining the club earlier this week.
Diego Costa serves the second game of his suspension while Filipe Luis is ruled out through injury.
