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It's Still My Chelsea, Claims Mourinho |
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Written by Peep Reporter
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Tuesday, 16 February 2010 15:42 |
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Inter Milan Coach Jose Mourinho has started the mind games ahead of his side's Champions League clash against former club Chelsea, claiming the team he left in 2007 has not evolved.
Mourinho managed the Blues from 2004, twice winning the Premier League, before an acrimonious split with the Stamford Bridge club saw him pitch up at the San Siro in June 2008 and claim the Serie A title in his first season.
This season the Nerazzurri are once again top of the table, nine points ahead of city rivals AC Milan having lost just two league games all season, and with the Champions League title also in his sights Mourinho claims that when he faces his old team on at the San Siro on February 24 there will hold no surprises.
"The last time I was there [Stamford Bridge] I was watching all the details with attention," the Portuguese told UEFA.com. "Even the warm-up is the warm-up they did in our time. The way they defend set pieces is exactly the same. The position they have on set pieces is exactly the same.
"Sometimes they play a 4-4-2 diamond, sometimes they play 4-3-3, which are exactly the systems we worked when there.
"I think [Carlo] Ancelotti's a very good coach and the team feels comfortable this way. And the team really is top - one of the best teams in the world."
"When I look at that team only Ivanovic and Anelka are not players from my time.
All the other boys: Petr Cech, Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Essien, Mikel, Drogba, Malouda, Joe Cole, Kalou; all of them are boys from my time.
"So it's a team without secrets for me. But at the same time I think I'm a coach without secrets for them. It will be easy for me, but I think also easy for them. I know them, but they know me. I know the way they play, the way they think, but at the same time they know the way I coach, the way I prepare my teams."
Chelsea travel to the San Siro for the first leg of their last 16 clash with Inter later this month. |