00:00Thank you for joining us ahead of tomorrow's Champions League group stage
00:11game against Benfica. We have microphones around the room to take
00:17questions and it will be one per reporter to fit everyone in. So we will get
00:23underway with Ian in the front please.
00:41Cameras action. Off you go Ian.
00:44Hi, how are you?
00:46Morning.
00:47Can I ask you for your views? We're in a room with lots of pictures of the
00:52manager who you'll be facing tomorrow night. Jose Mourinho is a real legend here.
00:57Just your views on Jose and what it's going to be like to coach against him and
01:02be five feet away from tomorrow in what was one of his spiritual homes.
01:06It's absolutely a privilege to face Jose tomorrow.
01:11A legend for this club, not only for this club, for different clubs.
01:18So it will be a privilege to face Jose tomorrow.
01:23And any extra pressure on you after last week losing the first game in this
01:28competition, making sure you win all your home games is important in the new format,
01:32isn't it?
01:33We make sure or we try at least to prepare every game to win the game and hopefully we
01:41can do that tomorrow.
01:43Simon.
01:44Ian, so you're obviously used to seeing pictures everywhere of former coaches
01:51lifting trophies.
01:52How much do you want to add your face with a picture, whether it be the Champions League
01:57trophy or the Premier League trophy like Rino has over there?
02:00But to be honest, I feel already quite like to be in some picture at the training ground with
02:06the club World Cup, so I feel already lucky with that after one season.
02:12But for sure the target is hopefully one day, not only with the club World Cup, also with the
02:18conference, but for sure the target is one day we can all together enjoy this kind of moment.
02:27Gary, just behind please.
02:31Enzo, hello.
02:32There's a lot of people here today.
02:33There'll be a lot of people here later on for Jose as well.
02:35Do you go along with all the kind of romance of football that this has happened this way?
02:41Because just over a week ago it was a different coach at Benfica and this wouldn't have been
02:46quite the interest worldwide that it is.
02:48Do you get excited about that kind of romance in football?
02:53I said probably was the first question, I guess.
02:56For me it's first of all a privilege to represent this club in the Champions League.
03:01For sure it's also a privilege to face a fantastic manager like Jose tomorrow.
03:09In the second right, please.
03:10Hi, Enzo.
03:12What do you expect from this Benfica?
03:14It's a very different team that you defeat in the World Cup.
03:20A new manager, new players.
03:22Is it difficult to prepare this match?
03:25It's probably a little bit more difficult.
03:29And the reason why is because they just played, I think, three, four games with Jose.
03:34All the games that I start to watch, unfortunately, was with the former manager.
03:39And I watched three, four games with Jose.
03:43I watched also some games, you know, where Jose was Man United or Spurs or Roma in Italy.
03:50But for sure it will be a completely different game compared to the club World Cup game.
03:56Matt, down here, please.
04:00Hi, Enzo.
04:01As you pointed out, you have actually won trophies at Chelsea.
04:06The fans will often keep singing Jose's name and sing the name of managers who have won trophies at this club.
04:14What do you think you need to do for them to sing your name now?
04:17Probably continue to win trophies.
04:26I remember for some moment of last season, I think it was Southampton away, where the fans were starting to sing.
04:34We have our Chelsea back.
04:37To be honest, it's not.
04:38I would like one day for sure, but it's not my target, you know.
04:42I'm already happy if they can sing we have our Chelsea back, because that means that as a team, as a club, we are doing something important.
04:52It'd be special to hear your name, though, surely, as well.
04:56Yes, for sure.
04:59But again, if they can sing we have our Chelsea back, I'm already happy.
05:05For sure, if one day they can sing my name even more, but the target is not that.
05:11It's just that we are able to win games and the fans, they can be happy.
05:16Jacob.
05:19Hi, Enzo.
05:20You're carrying a lot of injuries at the moment to key players, and obviously you're having to balance playing three times a week with the Champions League.
05:28Do you feel, especially looking forward to Liverpool on Saturday, which is another big game, that you're able to rotate the squad tomorrow night and still maintain the levels needed to win?
05:40We need to maintain level, for sure, because the Champions League requires a high level.
05:46As you said, in this moment we have, unfortunately, many players out for injury.
05:52This afternoon we're going to assess Caicedo, Joao Pedro and Andres Santos, that they are all players, unfortunately for us, with some small problems.
06:05So we see if tomorrow they're going to be available, but we have, for sure, in this moment we have injury, but we have, you know, we have, I think, scored enough in this moment also to try to replace the injury we have.
06:20Third row in the middle here, please.
06:27Hi, Enzo.
06:29Just a quick question about Steven, if I may, because from a perspective of a Brazilian reporter, I'm quite surprised of how many games and how many minutes he's been playing this beginning of his career here in Chelsea,
06:44and how do you assess his start, and how do you assess his start, and you initially said he can play in all of the five positions up front.
06:52Is there one that now you see him inclining to be better at, at the moment, or still?
06:59I still think the same, he's doing very good, he's doing very well, it's not easy, we said already for 17, 18 years, player to arrive here in Europe with a big club like Chelsea,
07:16and show immediately the quality that he has, and we are very happy with him, he's a very good boy, he's happy, he's what we need also in terms of energy, but for sure, for me, he can play in the five positions, attacking position.
07:36Front row here, with Nizar, please.
07:42Hi, Enzo. You've got a lot of players out, obviously, but you played quite well against Brighton for 53 minutes, and then you lost, but what's sort of the message to the players now?
07:52Is there a lot of positivity, and is there a lot of respect for those guys who remain on the field?
07:57How are you sort of keeping them up and their spirits up at this period?
07:59Yeah, in this moment, I think we need to be positive, first of all, because it's what the players need, second, because personally, I think that there is no reason to be negative.
08:16This morning, the club showed me about the stats that, you know, in the last six months, we lost five games, four of them with the red card, so for sure, we like to win games, there is no doubt,
08:32but also the reality is that there is not, you know, there is not any pressure, the pressure we have is the pressure that we know that, you know, being at Chelsea as a player, as a manager, you need to win games, no doubt,
08:49but at the same moment, you know, the reality is that, for different reasons, injury and red card, we lost five games in almost six months, but at the same time, I think it's something not bad.
09:07The back row, please, just in the middle there.
09:40I expect, obviously, a victory for your club, your Chelsea.
09:45From, I think, from Benfica, from Jose, you can expect the way they are playing now, 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, but you can also expect that they can play back five, so I expect two, three different things,
10:01and we have, you know, we have a plan for these two, three things that I expect, but he showed during his career how good he has been playing with different, you know, shapes, so we expect different things.
10:20Go Ben in the front here, please.
10:27Hi, Enzo. Could you elaborate a bit more on the stat that you just gave?
10:31Four of the five defeats in the last six months have come with a Chelsea red card.
10:36How do you coach that ill discipline, and what have you said to your players ahead of this game to make sure it does stay 11 Chelsea players on the field?
10:46No, first of all, for sure, I think, after a review of the last two games, you know, Man United and Brighton with 10 players, for sure, I could have done better, probably, in terms of decision, you know, no doubt.
11:05But also, for me, it's, you know, it's like a learning process to play with 10 players, because, you know, I think for any manager, it's not something normal.
11:17Unfortunately for us, it happened two times, and the stats is that in the last, again, almost six months, we lost five games, four of them with the red card, Newcastle, Flamenco, Man United and Brighton,
11:33and the only game that we lost 11-11 was Bayern Munich away, so that's why I said, for me personally, there is not any reason that we need to create panic,
11:45knowing that football, anyway, you know better than me, football is a crazy world, you know, you can, if you lost six months, six, five games in six months,
11:55and you need to, you know, you need to say things to defend yourself, that means that it's a crazy world.
12:01I don't think we need to defend ourselves in this moment, because the reality is that I have a very good feeling with the squad we have.
12:12I think, compared to last season, we all improve the players, because they can play games, they can have more experience.
12:21Me, personally, as a manager, I think I feel better than last year.
12:26The reason why is because I'm learning, for sure, there are many, many things that I need to learn.
12:30For instance, playing with 10 players, it's something that probably I need to do better,
12:35but it's part of the process, and I don't have any doubt that in the future we're going to be better and better.
12:43Davide, in the second row, please.
12:45Champions League is a competition that requires a different level compared to others.
12:56Obviously, it's a new experience for most of your players, and for you as well.
13:00What are you telling your players that they need to do to be at the Champions League level?
13:05We need that level, no doubt, but also we have players young,
13:10but in the same moment with the already experience with this competition.
13:16Atto, for instance, from Ajax, he has already experience in this competition.
13:22For me, personally, he will be top player for Chelsea.
13:26We have, I don't know, Garnaccio or Gittens.
13:30They are all players that, even if they are young, they already played in this competition.
13:35Joao Pedro, probably, he never played in this competition, but he joined us.
13:41He helped us to win the Club World Cup.
13:44So they are all players' talent, for sure, that they're going to help the club,
13:50they're going to help the team, and with more games, they're going to be better and better.
13:55Okay, we've got time for two more questions.
13:58We'll go with Rob, and then Mark.
14:02Hi, Enzo.
14:02How is your relationship with the fans at the moment?
14:05Do you think we heard a little bit of discontent on Saturday at the end of the match?
14:10Do you feel like that bond is strong currently?
14:13I think most of the time the fans react over the results.
14:19Yes, I can completely understand that after the defeat, it's normal that the fans, they
14:24are happy, but I'm not happy, the players, they are not happy, the club is not happy.
14:29And then, as I said at the beginning, last year, they were thinking, we have our Chelsea back,
14:34then we had a bad run, and they were not happy.
14:38So for me, it's more the reaction after the results.
14:42Again, if in this moment, after five defeats in six months, we are not happy, probably this
14:55show a little bit lack of balance in this sport, but it's a sport where I'm in from the last
15:0140 years, so I know exactly that it's like this.
15:04The only thing you can do is try to do better, try to, you know, learn, improve, and the
15:11most important thing in this business, that is win games.
15:15And Mark, please, in the front here.
15:18Hi, Enzo.
15:19You're the latest manager to come into the club and win big trophies in the past 20 years.
15:25Does Jose deserve the acknowledgement, I suppose, for laying the foundations when he first was
15:30here for the success that we've seen at Chelsea since then?
15:34The only thing I can say about Jose is the thing that I just said, that for me, personally,
15:41it's a legend for this club.
15:44I'm from Italy, it's also a legend for Inter, where he won the Champions League.
15:48So it's a legend for different clubs in the world that show how good has been and how good
15:55is Jose.
15:56Then in terms of what he deserves, to be honest, I'm not here to think what he deserves.
16:02I think he already showed how important manager has been at this.
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