Mourinho praises the players' dedication and professionalism, even if some of them may be unhappy

Oh, look!  Somebody in the press asked Mourinho a pertinent, interesting, relevant set of questions!  Consequently, he provided interesting, non-surly answers!  Amazing.

"I don't have a secret of keeping them happy. I don't know.  I think they are unhappy and frustrated, but the reality is that, to be professional and work at a high level, you don't need to be happy.  All of them are professionals. The team is more important than themselves. And the club."

"Schwarzer hasn't played a second, but if he has to play tomorrow he would because he's ready.  He's trained very well. We may have a secret to make them work every day at a high level, but no secret to keep them happy."

-José Mourinho; source: London 24

It's ok, José.  You don't have to reveal all your secrets of how you get even the fringe players to stay motivated.  (Usually.)  But since we're not likely to rotate the squad just for the sake of rotation, it's especially important that we get all the players to buy what Jose's selling, to sacrifice all for the betterment of the team and do their parts towards the ultimate goal of trophies, trophies, and more trophies.

"I think everybody has to be ready to sacrifice for the team, to give everything for the team, to think about the team, not to be selfish."

"This is the way I want a team to be. You didn't speak, for example, about Mikel."

-José Mourinho; source: London 24

Well, Mikel does get the coffee.  Because coffee's for closers.

"The first time he played [from the start in the Premier League] was Newcastle and he was our best player."

"How can he be our best player if he didn't play in three months? Because he was working every day at the top level. Sad, frustrated, not happy? Maybe. But professional - that's what I expect from the players."

[...]

"The one that comes on in the last five minutes, he's a crucial player. If he makes a mistake the team loses; if he doesn't, the team wins. Everybody wins, everybody loses."

"I want a short squad. In a short squad, everybody is important. I need every player. And when I sign a player, I don't say 'it's you plus 10'. I say 'it's you plus 21 or 22'."

"You have to know the squad is good at Chelsea. If you're at a Chelsea as a goalkeeper, you can't imagine that you're the only good goalkeeper. It's the same for the strikers. For me, all of this is very normal."

-José Mourinho; source: Chelsea FC

So that's all and well.  But what about players for whom this may not be such a normal situation.  Take Petr Čech, for example.  De facto starter for a decade, but now just a backup.  Any special treatment, special considerations for him (or others)?

"I put the team up [that's when they find out who starts, plays].  It's my decision and the players may not be happy with the decision, or not agree with the decision, but they know my decision is not to favour somebody or to punish somebody.  It's what I think is best for the team at a certain moment. This is the way I do it."

"It's one of the first things I say to every squad at the beginning of the season: I don't give explanations to players unless they ask me for one.  If somebody come to me and ask me to explain, obviously [no problem]. But, by principle, I don't explain things."

"I have to see if Courtois is 99 per cent or 100 per cent. If he's 99 per cent he doesn't play for sure."

"I have to make life easy for me. If I explain to one, I have to give them all explanations. In Christmas, I'd spend all the time giving explanations."

-José Mourinho; source: The National

But this one time, he did have to explain...

"I had one who asked, knocking on my door asking why someone else was playing instead of him. I said he was playing better, closed door, goodbye."

-José Mourinho; source: London 24

Love it.