Unsurprisingly, Tuesday's pre-match press conference dealt with actual football issues quite rarely. There's far less drama in that than poking and prodding Mourinho with personal questions and questions to which everyone knows how he will answer. I think my favorite one was the guy who asked Mourinho what he would need to do to start interacting "better" with other managers and people. He's a people person, don't you people get it!? Or the bit where they asked him to respond to Jamie Redknapp's opinion.
Beneath all the nonsense, there was some substance, including an official response from Chelsea's press officer Steve Atkins on the recent BBC report from Garry Richardson about a player who supposedly said that he'd rather lose than play for Mourinho again. Incidentally, (unsurprisingly? interestingly? -- even Chelsea's official video doesn't show it), I've only seen this reported by one outlet.
"The prominence which they gave a story which by their own admission came second or third hand is very disappointing. From a news organisation which prides itself on its integrity, we strongly feel that they fell well short of their standards."
-source: Eurosport Asia
Mourinho called it a "very sad accusation" and dishonest journalism.
"I think it is a very sad accusation because you are accusing a player, or more than one player I don't know what you reported, you are accusing them of dishonesty. If I accuse you to be a dishonest journalist I think you would be very, very upset and probably you would take legal action. So I think it is a question for the players and not for me."
"They have responded [well] to my methods. They give their best every minute of every training session, giving solidarity between all of us. I have a fantastic personal relationship [with the players], a very good professional relationship. In training they always play to the limits of quality and effort. Always there is a strong desire to win the match, which is what we will try to do [against Kiev]."
-Jose Mourinho; source: FourFourTwo
Perhaps, if the club feel so strongly, legal action is what's warranted. Can't have the media making up such libelous stories (if that is what this is) without repercussions. Right now, we're basically giving credence to the story just by responding; so we have to ensure the response is strong enough. An official Facebook statement may be enough to shoot down a Secret Footballer story, the BBC may need something more.
Meanwhile, John Terry said that if he ever heard such a thing, he'd lock the player in the dressing room. So that's where Djilobodji has been all this time!
"...in my whole football career I've never heard a player come out with those words. In my whole career. Whether it's been going bad or really bad. It's ridiculous I have to sit here and talk about it. ... I've seen players' faces with the disappointment after results, the feeling we've let the club and the manager and the fans down. The player wouldn't be let out of the dressing room, let's be honest. It wouldn't go down too well, would it."
-John Terry; source: Guardian
Certainly a unified front being presented to the press. Now about those results on the pitch...