Fenerbahçe Coach Jose Mourinho made a statement to the press. The highlights of the Portuguese coach’s statements are as follows:
FROM MOURINHO TO DURSUN ÖZBEK: YOU CAN EITHER CRY OR LAUGH AT THIS
I have to say this about the president who said he would gouge out his eyes. You either cry or laugh about this situation. I prefer to laugh. When I looked at the reflections in the world press, I was ashamed of this situation and felt sorry for him.
“I HAVE EIGHT CHAMPIONSHIPS!”
I won 8 league championships in my career. It all happened as a result of unity as a community. We will face Beşiktaş. It looks like it will be a very easy match. I wouldn’t say afraid, but I respect our opponent very much and I know it will be a very difficult match. We will play against a very good opponent. They are 13 points behind Galatasaray. They are also 10 points behind us. You can say that they have no chance of winning the championship because they are so far behind both teams, but they will want to win the derby even if nothing happens. That’s why I want communities to keep their feet on the ground.
“WE ARE AT A MOMENT WHEN WE LOST OUR BALANCE”
Fenerbahçe has not been able to become champions in the league for a long time because Fenerbahçe is fighting against something stronger and tougher than itself. We should not become unbalanced when things are not going well. We have a very difficult match tomorrow. We did not talk about the derby match enough, we are at a moment when we lost our balance. We reduced the point difference with our opponent and beat Slavia Prague away. As a community, we are at a moment when we must not lose our balance.
“G.SARAY DERBY CAUSED DEBUTTON IN BEŞİKTAŞ”
We did our training, and I went to watch the match at their stadium. This allows you to see from a different perspective. They are a team that has the quality to beat us, they are very dangerous when they win the ball. We also have characteristics that can cause problems for them. I think there are similar teams in terms of potential. The defeat they suffered against Galatasaray caused them a psychological collapse and they could not react correctly. The gap between them and the leader has widened more than it should have. I don’t think the real identity of that team is the team that lost against Göztepe. I am balanced.
“DERBY IS NOT DETERMINANT FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP”
I don’t think the match is decisive, but it is an important match. Beşiktaş has similar potential to Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray, but there is a serious point difference between them. It is very difficult for them to close the gap. Beşiktaş is really far away so if they win the derby it will not put them in the title race. There is still a long way to go, so I don’t think the derby will be decisive. We reduced the point difference between us and the top to 3. Even if we lose the derby, our championship race will not end.
WORDS FROM MOURINHO TO GUARDIOLA: BY DEALING WITH 150 CASES…
Guardiola told me something like this yesterday. He won 6 trophies and I won 3, but I won fairly and cleanly. If I lost, I want to congratulate my opponent for being better than me. I don’t want to win by dealing with 150 cases.
“THIS TEAM HAS NO DEFENSE CULTURE”
Turkish teams do not set targets in Europe, they look at it as a plus the further we go, and the main target here is the Turkish league. Teams in Turkey generally play defensively, some of them put intense pressure on man to man in front, but their main goal is defense. We need to focus a little on our offensive game. We are trying to prepare for both games. We continue our training according to what we will encounter in training. If you ask where we need it, we need to improve our defensive side more. This team did not have a great culture defensively. We make decision mistakes in terms of how to be welcomed at the front and how to be welcomed at the back. These are not individual mistakes, I see this as a whole.
“WE ARE NOT GOOD AT THIS”
I can say this about set pieces. Generally, there is a lot of talk about set pieces these days, but there are two important points about set pieces. The quality of the scorer and the quality of the header. We don’t have many players who head well. Arsenal have a lot of them, for example. We only have one striker who is good with his mind and one centre-back. Becao and Samet. We don’t have a very long team. If we play with two, there will be 3 players. We have a short team in terms of height. We are not good at this in terms of potential. We work on this every week, and the reason we fail to score is not because we don’t work. You usually see tall players in teams that play defensively, Göztepe is an example of this. We don’t have tall players, but you never know, maybe one of the short players can score a goal and surprise us.
“WHEN WE SCORED AS CENK WAS WARMING UP…”
Cenk is a very good player, there is a big difference between when he first came and what he is now. There is a lot of difference in terms of physicality and tempo. He is more than ready to play, he will score goals, there will be important goals. I think it was a coincidence that we scored while he was warming up.
“I DON’T WANT TO LOSE MY NATURE”
While others provoke the fans against the referee, nothing happens, you know that. I don’t want to lose my nature. I live in your country, I need to respect, learn and adapt. I do this too, but I don’t want to lose my nature. I just want to adapt to the things I participate in.
FATIH TERIM WORDS…
I love Fatih very much. We encountered Galatasaray while coaching Real Madrid. Some of my players later became his players. He invited me to his house during the holiday and I met his wife. From the moment I stepped into Istanbul, we didn’t even talk on the phone once. It’s idle, but he represents Galatasaray and I represent Fenerbahçe. This may have put a brake on our relationship. I don’t want to talk about the idea of him becoming Galatasaray’s coach because it would be disrespectful to Okan Buruk.