Jose Mourinho delivers a blunt Christmas message

JOSE Mourinho began his main press conference after Monday's goal-less draw between Chelsea and Arsenal cheerfully.

JOSE Mourinho began his main press conference after Monday's goal-less draw between Chelsea and Arsenal by offering a seemingly sincere message of Christmas greetings to all those present and their families, but the outbreak of goodwill did not last. In an anteroom a few minutes later, the Chelsea manager was up to his old tricks, taking pot shots at all and sundry and sending out a far more characteristic seasonal message.

Mourinho was in a playful mood but behind the jokes there was a semi-serious intent. Arsenal was his main target, lambasting them as boring for failing to test Petr Cech at the Emirates Stadium. He also made sure to aim a few barbs at Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

While Mourinho is rightly renowned as a master psychologist when it comes to motivating his players, he also thrives on spreading doubt and uncertainty among the opposition.

"I think boring is a team that plays at home and cannot score a goal," Mourinho said.

"That's boring. Because you go to your stadium and you fill your stadium, in weather like we had on Monday, to see victories. There is not a home fan in any club in the world who goes to the stadium and expects his team not to score or win. If any team was boring, they were boring because Cech made zero saves."

His message to Liverpool was slightly more subtle, claiming that Brendan Rodgers's side enjoy an easy ride in the Barclays Premier League because of a lack of European commitments. In one respect Rodgers will be flattered that Mourinho felt the need to single them out, suggesting he regards Liverpool as a serious title challenge before visiting Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

"It is not a coincidence that before this game against Arsenal, we had time to work," Mourinho said. "We played Sunderland last Tuesday and we had one week to work, which we didn't have since the summer.

"I had three days to work tactically. I worked on everything I wanted to work on: defensive set pieces, attacking set pieces, defensive organisation, transitions and counter-attack.

"I worked on everything because it was a special week for us. It was the kind of week Liverpool has every week."

Most surprising was his criticism of Tottenham for their decision to sack Andre Villas-Boas. Mourinho and his former colleague had become estranged in recent years but he phoned Villas-Boas to express his sympathy last week and continued to support him in public when asked about Tottenham's appointment of Tim Sherwood as head coach.

"That's not my problem really," Mourinho said. "My only problem is to feel sorry that one manager lost his job a couple of days before Christmas when he was completely enthusiastic about going forward with his contract at Tottenham.

"Who they appoint, if it is permanent or not permanent, if he is experienced or not experienced, that is not my problem."

THE TIMES