Jose Mourinho will quit Chelsea if he loses trust of his players following crisis talks

Jose Mourinho will QUIT Chelsea if he loses the trust of his players

JOSE MOURINHO has insisted that if he loses the trust of his players he will quit Chelsea.

 

The Stamford Bridge manager survived a crisis board meeting after the disastrous 3-1 home defeat by Southampton, and was told his job is safe - for now.

But Mourinho, who challenged the board to axe him straight after the game and said he would not walk away, admitted that if he lost the dressing room at Chelsea, he would resign.

 

"People can say what they want. People should ask the players and not go with fake sources," said Mourinho.

"Go straight to the players. If they tell you they don't trust me, that is the only thing that can make me resign."

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who was at Saturday's game, is understood to be furious at the current run of results but is backing his manager to turn things around.

 

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich had a meeting with Mourinho following the 3-1 defeat to Southampton

There was an emergency board meeting after the game and the Russian did not leave Stamford Bridge until nearly midnight after further talks.

But sources close to Abramovich also say that there is no viable alternative if Mourinho was to be sacked and it is also felt he is the only man capable of handling a personality-packed dressing room.

Mourinho said: "Yes, this is the worst moment in my career.

"But it makes me understand how big a guy I am. I am not afraid. I'm not crying, I'm not desperate.

"I want the next match and I am happy it is at Stamford Bridge in front of our own fans. It makes me realise how big I am. When you win titles and you are a champion and life is easy, it's easy to be proud.

"At this moment it's not so easy. I'm so unhappy with the feeling of defeat but I am happy with myself and the way I am facing this.

 

Former Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp is candidate to replace Mourinho if he was sacked

"I question myself all the time. I speak a lot with my people." Carlo Ancelotti, sacked in 2011 just a year after winning the Double, is recuperating in Vancouver after back surgery and rated as unlikely to fancy a return.

Jurgen Klopp is available after leaving Borussia Dortmund, and Guus Hiddink is also out of a job after resigning as Dutch coach in the summer. For the moment though, Mourinho is the man rated as the best man for the job.

The Portuguese, who criticised referee Robert Madley's performance on Saturday, also accused Southampton striker Sadio Mane of diving, saying: "One thing teams are not afraid of is to give away penalties against us. Because they make them all the time and referees never give them.

"I don't agree that Southampton could have had two penalties. If it happened it would have been a consequence of Mane always being on the floor. And when you are always on the floor you have the risk of them not being given."

“I think you can talk about Chelsea, but I like to talk about Southampton,” said Koeman. “Of course they are not in the best period of the season.

“But all the credit is how we played second half. We had same feeling and the same experience as happened last year.

“We said ‘okay’ we know, if we keep the belief in the team, if we press a little bit more than them, they find it difficult’. That is what we showed on the pitch.”