Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho seeks ‘different dynamic’ for visit of Maccabi

• Ivanovic, Terry and Costa to be rested for Champions League opener
• ‘I have to try a couple of different faces’ says Mourinho

Posted Wednesday, September 16, 2015 by theguardian.com

Jose Mourinho at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground as he prepares his side to face Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Champions League.

Jose Mourinho is set to rest Branislav Ivanovic, John Terry and Diego Costa for Chelsea’s opening Champions League group game against Maccabi Tel Aviv on Wednesday, offering Ruben Loftus-Cheek a first start in the competition, as he seeks to revive his side after a slapdash start to the domestic campaign.

The Premier League champions are enduring their worst opening to a top-flight season in 29 years, having won only once in five games to date to trail Manchester City by 11 points, and confront Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. Mourinho trained with 23 players at Cobham on Tuesday and intends to utilise his squad against the Israelis with Baba Rahman expected to debut at left-back, Loïc Rémy to a make a first appearance since the Community Shield, and Oscar returning after injury in attacking midfield.

Mourinho is without Radamel Falcao, who is nursing a slight tendon injury, while Pedro Rodríguez has a minor thigh problem. Yet, while the Israelis will hope to emulate Basel and Schalke over the last two seasons by emerging with reward from an opening-round visit to Stamford Bridge, the Portuguese will take the opportunity to grant some of his experienced players some respite – Ivanovic principal among them – as he seeks to kick-start a recovery.

I have a squad, I trust the squad and I don’t have to play with the same XI,” he said. “I can make changes. I know the consequences of that because, if I make a couple of changes in my team, instead of you saying, ‘He has a squad, he has more options, he is looking for a new dynamic, he wants to give a couple of chances to people who have been working hard,’ I know what you will say. If I leave out Azpilicueta it’s ‘because I have a problem with him’. The same with Terry, the same with Fàbregas. So I know the consequences.

"But I cannot be worried about that. I have to be just worried about my team and players. Yes I will make a couple of changes because I have to try and [create a] different dynamic, I have to try a couple of different faces, and to give chances to people who have not been playing but have been working hard. I promise you we are all working. When we say business as usual, it’s true. Business as usual, with one difference: we are not happy.”

Loftus-Cheek, the 19-year-old midfielder who made his first-team debut in the Champions League against Sporting Lisbon, started twice in the Premier League towards the end of last season but has found his opportunities limited to 17 minutes in the defeat to Crystal Palace to date this term. He will most likely replace the rested Nemanja Matic and operate alongside Fàbregas, whose own form has been fitful, as Chelsea pursue a victory to boost ailing morale.

Mourinho was backed publicly by his goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, who will make his debut in this competition in the absence of the injured Thibaut Courtois, but bristled at suggestions he has struggled to maintain his previous teams’ progress into a third season at his former clubs. “My third season in Porto? I didn’t have a third season,” he said. “In Inter, I didn’t have a third season. My third season at Chelsea the first time, I won the FA Cup and the Carling Cup, and I played the Champions League semi-finals.

"The third season in Real Madrid I won the SuperCup, lost the cup final, and I went to the Champions League semi-finals. These are my third seasons. So click Google instead of asking stupid questions. You spoke about the third season, and I’m telling you the question is stupid.”

Asked whether he is enjoying working towards building a new dynasty at Chelsea, he added: “Asking about building dynasties is a different question. I haven’t done that before. This will be the first time I’m trying to do that, so I don’t have previous experience from the past.

"The only real problem we have is we don’t have good results. Our lives are about getting good results but, you know, at other clubs you have to go back two, three, five, six, 10 years to remember good results. In our case you have to go back three months. Three months we were the best team in the country, the best manager, the players. Why are some managers not in difficult situations five, six, 10 years [without winning trophies], and I am the current champion of England? So why should I be in trouble? Why?

"We’re not happy, but we know what we are. It’s the same music the fans sing every game: we know what we are, champions of England. Our start has been so, so bad, but nobody can steal our trophies, our history. Nobody can do that. You can try, but you can’t do that. We know what we are. Champions of England.”