Stoke City v Chelsea @ The Brittania Stadium
Saturday November 7 @ 5.30pm
Banned Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho does not know where he will watch his side play when they face Stoke City on Saturday evening.
The beleaguered Blues boss is serving a one-game stadium ban after admitting a misconduct charge over his language and behaviour in last month’s defeat to West Ham.
The Portuguese, who also has a suspended stadium ban and a £40,000 fine for a separate comments made after the loss to Southampton, will travel with his team to the Brittania Stadium but will not be allowed inside the ground.
“I travel with the players and will be with them until someone stops me, I think it’s when I am just outside the stadium. I have to get out of the bus before,” he said.
“I have no plans to watch the game yet, maybe I watch it on my iPad on the street corner. I won’t listen to the pundits or commentators.
“I might not even watch the game. I can’t communicate… I might watch it on Twitter.”
Mourinho also believes his stadium ban could set a precedent for future cases.
“I think it opens a range of situations and options that in the future we will have lots of managers with stadium bans,” he added.
“It should be related to something really serious, this ban is connected to words and not violent action.
“Now it is open to bans happening many more times unless maybe our managers’ association and other associations around Europe question in a very serious and legal way the rights of the managers having stadium bans.”
Mourinho absence means he will have to rely on his assistants to ensure the Premier League champions do not slip to a seventh defeat in 13 games.
He has planned extensively with first team coaches Rui Faria, Steve Holland and Silvino Louro, but insists he will take responsibility for his team’s performance despite his absence.
“I am in charge,” he said.
“Every responsibility is my responsibility. They are completely free of that extra pressure that doesn’t belong to their jobs and it is my responsibility.
“I have sat down with my staff and created extreme scenarios to prepare them for the match and the subs.
“We have come up with plans and strategies to cope with us dominating, Stoke dominating, scorelines, they are prepared.
“It’s important for them to feel that they are protected by the fact that it is my responsibility. The players to play and the assistants to be with them.”
Striker Radamel Falcao misses the game with a muscular injury, Thibaut Courtois is still out with a long term injury while Branislav Ivanovic returns to the squad.
Feature image courtesy of Chelsea TV, via Youtube, with thanks
