
Jose
Mourinho has backed John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic amid reports claiming
Chelsea will wait until the New Year before deciding whether to offer the
pair new contracts.
Terry was dropped for the 4-0 Champions League win against Maccabi Tel Aviv
in midweek and was also substituted at half-time in the loss to title rivals
Manchester City last month.
But Mourinho has thrown his weight behind Terry, insisting he has complete
faith in his club captain.
"Last season he played every minute, before that he didn't," Mourinho told
reporters ahead of Saturday's visit of Arsenal.
"He's a player of my total confidence. I trust him always and he's one of my
men. Just because he's on the bench one game or I take him off he's still
one of my men."
Despite complaining about the form of defenders Gary Cahill, Terry and
Ivanovic before Chelsea's game at West Brom last month, Mourinho said public
criticism of Ivanovic had not come from him and was the work of others.
"You don't see me being critical of him," he said. "So I don't think it is a
question for me because I am not making an individual analysis or trying to
isolate individual players from the context."
The Portuguese also dispelled recent reports of disharmony in Chelsea's
squad before launching a cryptic broadside at the media.
"I don't have any problem with any one of my players," Mourinho said.
"Normally when bad results happen the first thing that comes into your
laptops, iPads and pens is to find a dramatic story: 'Somebody punched
somebody in the dressing room', 'The manager doesn't want to speak with this
guy'.
"'Diego Costa fought with John Terry and before they start the fight they
brought a translator for them to understand each other in the fight, because
Diego cannot speak English and John cannot speak Spanish'.
"'They organise it like a Wild West duels: 'At this time we are going to
fight, bring a translator to help us'.
"You (the media) always go in this direction, which is funny. The other
direction you don't go is the direction which is real.
"You lose matches, you are affected, you lose confidence, you don't want the
ball."
The Chelsea boss confirmed Willian will be unavailable for the London derby
with Arsenal and said fellow attacking midfielders Oscar and Pedro are also
doubts for the game. Striker Radamel Falcao is also an injury concern for
Chelsea.