The Chelsea F.C. Thread IV

"We are okay, we are very much okay. If the transfer window closed tomorrow and we do nothing, I am more than happy."

"We will play 4-2-3-1 in the first game, my favourite system, though sometimes I change the triangle and play with one in front of the defenders and two players up," Mourinho said. "Other times I play with double midfielders and a No10. This is a team where we have not one or two but three or four players who like very much to be a No10: [Kevin] De Bruyne likes it, Oscar likes it, Mata likes it, [Eden] Hazard likes it. It is a natural system for all these players to play.

"But in another match I could change it. If we are losing, we might need to have two pure strikers. It is something we will work on because I would like to have this capacity to have it ready to play, independent of the players we have. Naturally, we will have four at the back and in my team, the attackers are attackers. Some guys say we play 4-2-3-1, blah blah blah blah, and sometimes the attackers have a defensive job so it is more like 4-5-1. But it is not 4-5-1, it is 4-3-3.

"With Mata, I need to get to know him better. I like sometimes to play with what I call 'wingers with the wrong foot' – right-footed men on the left and left-footed men on the right. He is the only left-footed player we have when we want to play with a winger on the right side, but the competition is hard. We will have Schurrle, De Bruyne, Mata, Oscar, Hazard and Moses for these three positions and so we have many more options than Chelsea had in the last year. These are crucial positions for me. I like these players to play with high intensity so to have five players for three positions is, I think, brilliant for me. It's fantastic."