It's unclear what Chelsea players are nowadays. Winners? Losers? Champions? Primadonnas? Breakfast cereal aficionados? We do know that they're no longer little horses or unhatched eggs. Or ostriches, apparently. Even though Hazard has looked to be carrying a bit of extra bulk around the midriff.
"There is an animal that puts its head in the ground... an ostrich."
Somewhere, Nigel Pearson's ears perked up at this point.
"In the bad moments, you cannot do that. You cannot do that. And just wait for a better moment to come, or for the problems to be resolved by themselves. Or waiting for the moon to change and give you better vibrations."
"You make mistakes, you are in a bad moment, no ostrich, head up, face the problems, speak, work and for me this is the way."
Earlier on Friday, Mourinho talked about the need for open dialogue and the ability to give and take constructive criticisms inside the dressing room. So it's a good thing that the players aren't ostriches. Ostriches cannot talk, after all. They do try, bless their hearts, but all that ever comes out is wump wump wooomp.
"I used to say that, sometimes, players are on the pitch and they are hidden. They hide. They don't want the ball. They hide. It's the worst thing, when you don't want to be there. You lose two or three matches, the next match you play at home and you don't want to be there."
"I had players like this, even in big clubs. I had players that feel, in some moments, they don't want to be there. That's bad. But I think we showed against Arsenal that we don't have that profile."
-Jose Mourinho; source: Evening Standard
As always, talk is great, but action is even better. On Tuesday, a big part of the reason we lost was simply because Porto wanted it more. That must not happen against Southampton.