Chelsea midfielder reveals how he will cope without Jose Mourinho in the dugout at Stoke

Matic has never played a Chelsea match without Mourinho present

NEMANJA MATIC admits it will be strange without Jose Mourinho prowling the touchline, barking orders, signalling, cajoling.

 

Matic has never played a game for Chelsea, since he returned in 2014, when the glowering, inspirational figure has not been on the touchline. But he will at Stoke tomorrow, when the Chelsea manager's one-game stadium ban comes into effect.

Chelsea were due to receive the written reasons for the punishment from the FA by Thursday night, and have until midday on Friday to lodge notice of an appeal.

The FA will consider that notice, and if they agree, it is possible the ban could be held over until an appeal is heard. In which case Mourinhon will be at the Britannia Stadium.

 

Privately, Chelsea do not expect that, just as they did not expect yesterday's appeal against another suspended one-match stadium ban and £50,000 fine for implying match officials were biased following the October 3 loss to Southampton.

Mourinho may have bought some time with Wednesday's edgy 2-1 Champions League win over Dynamo Kiev, and perhaps more particularly with the Stamford Bridge crowd's passionate support for him - but defeat in the Potteries could deal a mortal blow to his second spell in charge.

Barring any appeal, Mourinho will be confined to the team hotel watching the game, unable to communicate with his coaches. It will be Rui Faria, Steve Holland and Silvino Louro calling the shots.

"I've been here almost two years now and we have not played without the coach yet, so it is going to be strange, but this is football and we will be ready," said Matic.

 

Jose Mourinho will be forced to watch the game on TV

"Of course it is easier when the coach is on the bench, especially at half-time when he can say something.

"Sometimes when the game is stopped and there is a foul, he signals with the hands and you know what you have to do. But if you are playing on his side of the pitch you can hear him!

"We also have other great coaches here, and they will be prepared for everything. We have to be ready."

For once Chelsea recovered from losing a lead on Wednesday, when Dynamo's Aleksander Dragovic, who had earlier scored the own goal that gave them the lead, equalised with 12 minutes left. It was the brilliant Willian, four minutes later, who fired in a superb free-kick to get his team and manager off the hook.

Matic said: "That result was so important for us, because if we win one more game we can qualify from this group. But also it was important for our confidence.

 

"In moments like this, it is important to win. It does not matter how you play. You can play well, or badly, but the only thing that matters is that you win.

"Now we have to win on Saturday. It is going to be tough, it is always difficult at Stoke but last season we won there 2-0 and we can do the same now.

"Maybe what we did on Wednesday will be good for us. Because it is not easy when you are playing well, and you concede a goal. But we recovered from that.

"If someone had told us before the game that we were going to win 2-1, we would have taken it."

And the Serb insisted Mourinho's players are still on his side, as he said: "Of course we want to win on Saturday for the coach, for our club. We know that everyone has been saying we are bad. But we know that we have quality.

"When you play for Chelsea you have more responsibility than at other clubs, because Chelsea always want to win. Our supporters are used to winning trophies. The responsibility is big for us, but we are ready to take that."