Jose Mourinho keeping his opinions to himself? Sounds improbable, but that's just what the outspoken Chelsea manager claims he'll do this season.
Mourinho's first season in English soccer was punctuated by his brash thoughts on referees, the Football Association and rival managers and players. Now that Chelsea is about to begin the defense of its Premier League title, Mourinho is taking a different approach.
"My philosophy, especially for this season is to think about us, to forget the others, to go our way," Mourinho said Friday. "Don't be too much worried about what they say and try to live independently of that.
"If one day I feel I need to do something in relation to that, I will change that but at the starting point of the season, I will just be in my corner, concentrating on my job and nothing else."
When asked if he would rather retain the Premier League title -- and become the first club since Manchester United to win back-to-back English championships since Liverpool in 1984 -- or win Chelsea's first Champions League trophy, Mourinho didn't hesitate: "Premiership," he said.
Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon has said the Premier League champion will come from a ``small bunch of one.'' Mourinho laughed that off.
"He's trying to motivate his people," Mourinho said.
"It's good for us to listen to our chief executive because he trusts us so much, it's positive for us.
"As for the others, they should do what we do, just ignore. If we all do the same and we all concentrate on our job, maybe it is not good for you [the media] because you don't have great things to write about, but I think it is good for football."
Mourinho refused to be drawn on claims by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger that transfer prices doubled any time Chelsea expressed interest in a player.
"No reaction. It's his opinion," Mourinho said.
But he did acknowledge that the ?21 million (30.2 million euros) Chelsea paid Manchester City for striker Shaun Wright-Phillips was inflated.
"In between English clubs, the transfer fee is very, very high and not because of Chelsea because of English football and English market," Mourinho said. "It's not Shaun, it's every player who moves from an English club to another English club. For me, it's too expensive, but that's the English market."
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