Willian and Pedro did unbelievable defensive work on very good offensive players, Hutton and Richardson, and later Amavi. He has a lot of tactical quality the team needs. I have to try and make the best decision for the team.
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Sherwood’s record at Villa is poor, but having just survived relegation last season, then lost the spine of the team in Christian Benteke, Fabian Delph and Ron Vlaar, that is no surprise. That is worrying and I don’t want to get used to it but we have to move on and learn from those mistakes because they are costing us at the moment.
“We are in it again and we’ll get through it. If we do, then this group of players will grow”.
When one journalist enquired as to whether Costa could one day captain Chelsea, Mourinho laughed and said: “You guys would kill me!”
Diego Costa has left his mark on plenty of opponents since joining Chelsea from Atletico Madrid previous year, developing himself a reputation as one of the most combative strikers in the game. I would never expect to come from a bad period direct into a brilliant game.
“The way he was working in the past two weeks with us, I knew clearly he would bring something positive for us”, Mourinho said.
After the restart, there was an early moment of promise for Grealish, as he cut in from the left and flashed a cross-shot through the six-yard area, but within eight minutes, Villa were a further goal behind and, apparently, out of contention.
“Especially when we are not playing at our top level”.
“So let’s try to keep this mentality and this tactical attitude”.
“The performance was very solid, a really solid performance, but based on other ingredients, confidence comes with results, results bring all the good qualities that the players have”, he told the BBC.
Brendan Rodgers, recently dismissed by Liverpool, has been mentioned as a potential successor, although he has made it clear he will take the rest of the season off from football.
“But I have had no indication that the clock is ticking”, he said. I’m telling them to express themselves.
“I’m under no illusions”.
“Goalscoring has not been our problem, but not winning matches is of course a concern”.
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The Villans boss is refusing to focus on speculation that he could be the next Premier League manager to lose his job.
