Jose Mourinho Issues Statement on Eva Carneiro, Medical Staff in Chelsea Presser

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was happy to address the ongoing row between himself and his medical staff head-on during his weekly press conference on Friday.

In a prepared statement, the Portuguese remained insistent he would be standing by his decision to remove both Jon Fearn and Eva Carneiro from the bench at matches, starting with this Sunday’s trip to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City.

But Mourinho insisted that did not mean the pair have been banished for good, per Ben Burrows of the Daily Mirror:

"

First of all, I want to say I have a fantastic medical led by Dr Paco Biosca, more than a dozen professionals, very good relation with them and, as they tell me all the time, they were never praised so much as in last few years. I praise them lots of times.

We have disagreements during this period, we need disagreements to improve. We work together. Your question about the bench. For some people it’s important. For others, it’s not... It’s my decision.

Dr Jon Fearn and Dr Eva Carneiro will not be on the bench, but doesn’t mean for rest of season. My decision [this weekend] does not mean they won’t be on the bench in the future.

"

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Mourinho has been widely criticised for the decision to remove the duo from the matchday party. The Blues boss was furious when Carneiro and Fearn went onto the pitch to treat Eden Hazard in the final stages of Chelsea’s opening-day draw against Swansea City, thus temporarily reducing the champions from 10 to nine players.

Peter Brukner, the former head of sports medicine at Liverpool, branded Mourinho’s conduct as “appalling,” per talkSPORT (h/t Darren Lewis of the Daily Mirror), while the Premier League Doctors’ Group suggested the decision to remove the pair from the bench was “unjust in the extreme,” per David Hynter of the Guardian.

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But as noted in Burrows' piece, when asked if he’d regretted anything from this week, Mourinho was coy: “The game is emotional...football is football. The match is the match. Everything after the match can be different, especially after the meeting I had with my medical dept yesterday.”

Football journalist Jamie Reid was reading between the lines:

Mourinho refused to be drawn on any further talk about the incident, insisting he was “not discussing it” when quizzed whether Hazard asked for medical attention. He also insisted that the players have little to worry about, claiming “they’re surrounded by top-quality people,” per Burrows.

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In among the hyperbole surrounding Mourinho, Fearn and Carneiro, it’s almost been forgotten that the Blues have a massive match this weekend against City. Indeed, if the Blues lose, they’ll fall five points behind Manuel Pellegrini’s men, who eased to a classy 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion in Week 1.

Mourinho insisted there is a long way to go yet, though, per Burrows:

"

We are speaking about 38 matches, it is an eternity, a marathon that started last week. I cannot say it’s not crucial, I cannot say it’s not very, very, very important.

It’s title contenders so three points are important but I cannot say that a win will mean anything significant for the winner or the loser.

"

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With Thibaut Courtois suspended, Mourinho is already without one key player. But he also revealed that Brazilian playmaker Oscar, who scored on the opening day, is a big doubt for the trip up north, per the club's official Twitter feed:

Bleacher Report's Jonathan Johnson took a look at how the match might pan out:

It’s been a tough week for Mourinho in which he and the club have come under an immense amount of scrutiny. But turning our focus back to on-field matters, you can just imagine the Portuguese using this incident to his advantage; drawing the group together and uniting under an “us against the world” mentality.

It’ll probably serve the Blues well at the Etihad Stadium and a positive result will see supporters quickly shift their attentions back to football. But if City roll Chelsea over, questions of unrest will continue to be put to Mourinho and there will be major doubts about whether or not this team, in this state, has the mettle to retain their Premier League crown.