Mourinho Happy; Wenger Sad Over 2-0 Loss To Chelsea; Read Comments

Jose Mourinho was full of praise for his side for beating Arsenal 2-0 on Saturday to steer clear of the relegation zone on the log.

The Stamford Bridge outfit have now gathered 7 points of of 18 in their last six games, meanwhile Wenger said it was a frustrating afternoon for him.

"It was a very good performance, a deserved victory, I’m happy with the performance and points,’ he said.

"We improved a lot in the last two matches, in many aspects.  Defensively the team was much better. The attacking players defended much better than before, they created a compact zone and reacted very well to the moments when they lost the ball. That gives great stability for the players behind."

"We were confident and comfortable with the ball. When you play against 10 men, many times teams play bad, but we played very well against 10 men, we gave them no chances and kept good balance behind the ball. The attacking players started moving much more. We deserved the victory."

The Portuguese was particularly impressed with the defensive work of his attacking players...

"Tomorrow I will watch the game again and go for stats. I will see how many times my attacking players lost the ball and recovered the ball. Lost the ball and pressed. Their work – Oscar, Diego, Eden and Pedro – makes it easy to be a defender because you sit there and the attacking players do half of your job for you."

Mourinho responded to Arsene Wenger’s suggestion that Diego Costa should have also been sent off...

"I played against Arsenal many times and only once he didn’t moan. That day we lost the game, we lost the cup (Community Shield). It wasn’t good for us but we behaved in a fantastic way. No excuses, no crying, no moaning. I played my first derby in September 2000, Benfica against Sporting. I told my players before the game you need emotional control. I’ve played derbies in Portugal, Spain, Italy, England and you don’t win derbies without emotional control, it’s a basic thing. I think you should speak about Gabriel and his mistake."

"Diego Costa played like he has to play. That’s why you have full stadiums and you sell the game around the world for millions, because the game has to be played like that. That’s why tomorrow I will go to a game which is comparable in terms of passion and dedication, New Zealand against Argentina [in the Rugby World Cup], I love it. Diego was fantastic, Man of the Match for me."

"It was the same referee that made every decision and didn’t give two clear penalties to us. Gabriel did something to Hazard which is allowed in rugby, not football. In the box it’s a penalty. In the second half another player did the same on Diego Costa. In rugby it’s fantastic, in football it’s a penalty."

"He said before the game I have to cope with my defeat, tonight he has to cope with his defeat."

Mourinho also explained why John Terry didn’t start the game

"John Terry doesn’t need me to speak with him because he knows what I feel and think. He knows he’s my man. If I have to choose one of 25 to be my man he’s the first. He knows I care about him as a player and a person. He knows my decision had only one intention, which was to help my team win the match. I thought Arsenal would come to play a defensive game, with a very fast striker who gets behind people. If we didn’t need to win the game so much we probably would have kept our block lower and more compact, but because we desperately needed a victory we couldn’t wait, we had to bring our defensive line up.

"Playing against Walcott, the best player we have is Zouma. John knows how I think and if he’s normally a great captain, today he was even better. If every player had lots of respect for him, the way he’s reacted in the last days to this situation, he has even more respect from the players. If you want to paint a dark picture, I ask you please don’t because it’s not the reality. He’s in great condition and a great situation with the manager and club."

Arsene Wenger on a frustrating afternoon…

It was a very frustrating afternoon because we looked like we were in control. It’s frustrating to see Diego Costa staying on because it’s not understandable when you look at the whole situation. The fact that he doesn’t get a red card is unbelievable. That we got one on top of that, we have to look at ourselves because we are guilty. But Costa should have been off before Gabriel could respond to him.

on Arsenal’s performance before the red card…
We were quite in control and I felt that we were comfortable. Overall it’s difficult to lose a game like that.

on his side’s character…
We were good but we have to play now with 11 against 11. We lost the game in Zagreb with 10 against 11 and today we lost again. It’s always a mountain to climb and the regret I had today is that we conceded a goal from a set-piece when we were controlling them well. We conceded [from] a set-piece and that’s difficult to accept.

on putting things right at Tottenham…
Yes, we try but it’s the League Cup. We play on Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday and we have to see how we recover and how we go from there.