Chelsea
boss Jose Mourinho has insisted he no longer has to fire up his players to
get the desired result.
The 52-year-old heads in to Sunday's match against Hull, live on Sky Sports
1 from 3.30pm, with an opportunity to extend their three point Premier
League lead but says his strategy won't include measures to wind up his
team.
“This season I don't need confrontational leadership - last season I felt I
needed it a few times,” Mourinho said.
“Basically, it's when you are ready to provoke your players to try to create
some conflicts with the intention to bring out the best of them.
“In this moment I don't think I need that with this group because things are
going in the direction I want.
“Obviously, you can say: ‘But you lost in the Champions League and you lost
against Bradford [in the FA Cup] but, generally, the way they work, behave,
live together, their motivations, their responsibilities, their
frustrations, the way they react to the negative and positive moments, the
absence of complacency: all this is going well.
“I just need to be present. I don’t need to be a big leader, or even try to
find strategies as a leader.”
Big leader or not, Mourinho has still had a signficant impact at Stamford
Bridge and the appreciation seems to mutual, with the Portuguese manager
admitting he could consider working for another 20 years.
"If I don't stop, and if I think I want to work 15 or 20 more years, it's
exactly because I feel that happiness to work, to compete, to win, to lose,
to try to win again.
“My career is beautiful, I just want to carry on and enjoy many more years,
because I am too young.”
A win on Sunday would leave Chelsea well-placed to claim the title and
Mourinho has been feeling confident enough to reveal how he marks any
trophy-winning campaigns.
"When I win titles, the gifts are for my wife, my daughter and my son," he
added.
"The only thing I do is I take my watch from my wrist and I don't wear it
again, I keep it. When I finish a season with a trophy, that season is
represented with a watch.
"I have a big collection, they're in a safe box. Instead of medals or this
or that, I keep a watch."
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