Chelsea Coach Jose Mourinho has told Manchester United their hopes of retaining the title are over after Samuel Eto’o’s hat-trick crushed David Moyes and his despondent team at Stamford Bridge.
United had captain Nemanja Vidic sent off as they slumped to their fourth defeat in five games since the New Year, even though they must overcome a 2-1 deficit.
Moyes adamant
But Moyes insisted there is no crisis at the club and refused to concede the championship.
“What we won’t do is throw the towel in until we can’t get there,” he said.
“The job is to try to finish first. There are no clever answers. It’s about the next game. We’d lost one in six before today in the league, and I didn’t think there was a big difference between the teams here. The difference was our defending against set-pieces.
“It’s a difficult task, but it’s about perseverance. I’d hoped I’d be in a far better position than this, but we’re not. But as a football person it’s a great challenge.”
Asked if he believed the club were in crisis, Moyes said: “Crisis is your word, not my word. The priority is to win the next game, a cup game in midweek.”
Cameroon veteran Eto’o was hailed after he became the first Chelsea player to score a hat-trick against United since 1954, with skipper John Terry suggesting his side had inflicted “a pasting”.
But there was a setback with the news that striker Fernando Torres has a medial ligament injury and may be out for four weeks.
Mourinho added: “It was a fantastic moment for someone to score a hat-trick and against Manchester United. They started better than us but we controlled the first half after we scored.”
Terry told Sky TV: “At times we have struggled over the years and United have come here and really given us a bit of a pasting. They’re not playing the greatest at the moment and it was important we did the same to them today.”
Mourinho is now the manager who has recorded 100 Premier League wins in the quickest time in the competition’s history.
He was honoured at a special tribute evening by the Football Writers Association in London on Sunday.
Man Utd’s title defence over!!
Chelsea Coach Jose Mourinho has told Manchester United their hopes of retaining the title are over after Samuel Eto’o’s hat-trick crushed David Moyes and his despondent team at Stamford Bridge.
United had captain Nemanja Vidic sent off as they slumped to their fourth defeat in five games since the New Year, leaving them in seventh place and 14 points behind leaders Arsenal.
Mourinho said: “I don’t think David will be upset if I say the reality. It’s 14 points difference, and then 13 and 12 [to second-placed Manchester City and third-placed Chelsea]. Can they recover to one of these teams? They can. But to three of them? It needs three teams to have almost a collapse.”
United will now be without the suspended Vidic for the Capital One Cup semi-final second leg against Sunderland at Old Trafford at Wednesday, which may represent their best chance of any form of success in Moyes’ first season, even though they must overcome a 2-1 deficit.
Moyes adamant
But Moyes insisted there is no crisis at the club and refused to concede the championship.
“What we won’t do is throw the towel in until we can’t get there,” he said.
“The job is to try to finish first. There are no clever answers. It’s about the next game. We’d lost one in six before today in the league, and I didn’t think there was a big difference between the teams here. The difference was our defending against set-pieces.
“It’s a difficult task, but it’s about perseverance. I’d hoped I’d be in a far better position than this, but we’re not. But as a football person it’s a great challenge.”
Asked if he believed the club were in crisis, Moyes said: “Crisis is your word, not my word. The priority is to win the next game, a cup game in midweek.”
Cameroon veteran Eto’o was hailed after he became the first Chelsea player to score a hat-trick against United since 1954, with skipper John Terry suggesting his side had inflicted “a pasting”.
But there was a setback with the news that striker Fernando Torres has a medial ligament injury and may be out for four weeks.
Mourinho added: “It was a fantastic moment for someone to score a hat-trick and against Manchester United. They started better than us but we controlled the first half after we scored.”
Terry told Sky TV: “At times we have struggled over the years and United have come here and really given us a bit of a pasting. They’re not playing the greatest at the moment and it was important we did the same to them today.”
Mourinho is now the manager who has recorded 100 Premier League wins in the quickest time in the competition’s history.
He was honoured at a special tribute evening by the Football Writers Association in London on Sunday.
