Jose Mourinho wants a 'brave' Chelsea

JOSE MOURINHO last night called on his men to follow his example and be bravehearts as winter kicks in.

Jose Mourinho has called on his Chelsea players to be brave in the face of a congested Christmas schedule [SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/GETTY]
 

Despite the drop in temperature, the Chelsea boss opted last week to shave his head, giving him a tough "ready for war" look.
Mourinho, or should that be Marine-O, yesterday revealed he had crafted the look himself using Fernando Torres' clippers.

And in Basel tonight, where the temperature is due to plummet to -3C, the 50-year-old wants his boys to pull off the victory which will ensure one battle is over.
A win will ensure they top Group E - a draw means qualification - taking some of the heat off a hectic December.


During that time they face seven Premier League matches, a Capital One Cup quarter-final and a clash in Europe at home to Steaua Bucharest.

And Mourinho said: "It's a period where I think only the brave can survive, because it's hard.
"We go into the Christmas period and the accumulation of matches is so high.

"We do it as a special group, with a special mentality, enjoying the situation and forgetting we don't have a Christmas like the Spanish, Italian and German players.
"But we have the pleasure of playing a period that's only for the brave. I like that a lot.

"I missed it when I was in Spain and Italy. Now I'm back, I want to enjoy it and I want the players to enjoy it.

"We need a special mentality to cope with that situation - nine matches and one of them is the match against Steaua.
"If we can finish the job tonight, we could say instead of nine matches we have eight, and that would be important.

"That's our motivation for tonight, to kill the situation in the group stage and give us a bit of space in December."

In the meantime Jose is concentrating on getting past Chelsea bogey team Basel tonight [RICHARD HEATHCOTE/GETTY IMAGES]

“We have the pleasure of playing a period that's only for the brave. I like that a lot”

Jose Mourinho

Explaining his new menacing look, Mourinho joked: "Some people can't do what I did.
"In a couple of months, I'll have hair again! Some other people cannot do it.

"I did it myself at the training ground, using Fernando's clippers. It's nice and cheap. I sent my wife a picture before I arrived home to see if I could still get in. It was no problem - she likes it."

Meanwhile, midfielder John Obi Mikel reckons Saturday's 3-0 victory at West Ham marked the return of the real Blues.
"The way we played was exactly the way the manager wants us to play," he said.

"He's always wanted us to play that way - concentration, press the ball when we don't have it, when we have it play as well. We did everything exactly as he wants us to do.
"Everyone is happy. The manager is happy. That's what we want to keep doing.
"That is Chelsea. From now on hopefully we can keep playing that way."

The west Londoners were shock 2-1 losers at home to Swiss side Basel in September.
And midfielder Fabian Frei said: "Chelsea learned their lessons after we beat them at home. They underestimated us in the first game."
Tonight, Mourinho will forget about the hair clippers and hope his team's a cut above.