Saturday, April 04, 2015

Jose Mourinho reported a clean bill of health for his squad at his pre-match media conference on Friday afternoon

There were good reasons however for the manager’s croaky delivery as he told reporters that no players have returned from international duty with injury, and two who remained behind with fitness problems have recovered.

Diego Costa, who came off in the last league game at Hull due to a hamstring injury, is available for tomorrow’s match against Stoke although a decision is yet to be made on whether the striker will begin the game or be on the bench.

‘Diego trained yesterday and today with the group and he is not injured,’ Mourinho said. ‘I don’t know if I start with him or not because after a muscular injury and then just two days with the group, I need to analyse the situation with him and make a decision.

‘His injury was the same as before, hamstring, and he dedicated himself to that with no days off for him or the medical department, working morning and afternoon. We did all the tests and scans to confirm the situation two days ago and at the moment the muscle is fine, but football is more than that, you need confidence, you need to believe you are free to express yourself at the maximum intensity and that is our doubt at the moment. Let’s see in the next 24 hours.’

This is the shortest period of full training ahead of a game that Diego Costa is likely to have for the rest of this season, and Mourinho is optimistic the schedule of one game a week should keep the player available.

‘All the season he works on prevention to make the muscle stronger and at the same time elastic and flexible, recovering well with no big accumulation of fatigue. Myself and the medical department always believe that an operation is the last resort for every injury - so we try always to train and recover to compensate the little problems. I don’t believe we will ever go to the surgery option [in this case].’

John Mikel Obi is in full training again following minor knee surgery but will not be considered for this weekend’s game.

‘Mikel is fine and working all week with the group but he is very tired so he is not selected, but he is not injured,’ the manager said, explaining that rehabilitation training differs significantly from training for match action.

‘He is tired because he was injured for a month, he had surgery and he was not working with the group, so after four sessions with the group he needs time to adapt and needs time to be in condition.’

The Nigerian’s tiredness is different, Mourinho told the conference, from that attributed to Eden Hazard following his international action. There is no doubt the Belgian will be ready for action tomorrow.

‘Eden was tired because he played two games in three days and he played in Israel. He traveled and he didn't sleep as he arrived in Belgium at five or six o’clock in the morning. He is tired because he played and we think that he can recover in these couple of days and he starts the game tomorrow.

‘That is football for a player who is important for club and national team. He is a player that I want to play every time and his coach for his country wants to play him every time. He is player who plays with the ball, he creates and dribbles and plays with lots of intensity so it is not a surprise he can be a bit tired - but I believe in him, I believe in the team and I believe in his ambition to play and his desire to play and help the team to reach the season’s objective, so I start with him.’

As international breaks have gone this season, the one just completed allowed the most recovery time for the squad in general before the next Chelsea game, with only Hazard, Thibaut Courtois and Cesc Fabregasin action as recently as Tuesday. That allowed Mourinho to work hard with them on their return, resulting in the voice heard at the press conference 24 hours later. His team may no longer be the 'little horse' of last season, but a little hoarse is an accurate assessment of the boss.

‘Yesterday’s training session was a good and intense one and I was also an important part of the training session. They need their legs and I need my voice, so I lost my voice,’ he laughed.

‘We did tactical exercises, remembering things and working on things we think are important for the game tomorrow. Maybe because my voice was quiet for the last couple of weeks I lost it yesterday.

‘Everybody knows the way Stoke play but they are difficult opponents and that is why they have no problem staying in the Premier League. They have a manager who is there a couple of years and has a new contract and the same players and they are very stable. Everyone knows the way they play but it is difficult for everyone.

‘We need six victories and one draw from nine matches. It is a good situation for us and one all the other clubs would like to be in, but we need to do that and we haven’t yet.’