last season, but their coach has named the two
sides he felt gave them their biggest tests
Jose Mourinho says Manchester City and
Southampton were Chelsea's most difficult
opponents last season.
The Blues romped to top-flight glory in 2014-15,
finishing eight points ahead of second-placed
Manchester City to add to their League Cup
success.
They were, however, given stern tests by City and
the Saints both home and away and Mourinho
pointed to the games against the two sides as
their most tricky encounters.
He remarked: "I have to be pragmatic and also
choose two, the only two teams we couldn't beat.
We didn't lose against them but we didn't beat
them. Manchester City, two matches and two
draws, and Southampton, two matches and two
draws."
Mourinho also hailed his most recent title win as
the most rewarding, because of the greater
competition in the Premier League last term.
"[The Premier League] is more difficult than ever, I
would say it was the most difficult one. It's very
competitive with good teams," the Portuguese told
Chelsea's official website.
"The mentality is very important and, in this
country, even the teams without the same human
potential as the top teams really fight and really
believe. Every game becomes very competitive and
mentality is a big part of it.
"At the same time, the good financial situation that
every club has allows even the smaller teams and
the promoted teams to get good players, have
good squads and to be competitive."
Mourinho also reflected on his favourite moment of
the season and believes that his side showed their
title credentials from their very first match against
Burnley, during which Andre Schurrle added the
finishing touches to a spectacular team goal.
"I would say the first match of the season at
Burnley [was my favourite moment] because it was
the first feeling of the quality of football Chelsea
could play," he continued.
"We played fantastically well in that match and we
scored, in my opinion, the most beautiful goal
collectively speaking, which was Schurrle's goal.
"I also have to choose the last seconds of Chelsea
against Crystal Palace because that's when the
referee finished the game and we were
mathematically champions."
No comments:
Post a Comment