Mourinho hits back, 14 players were playing with the national teams
Mourinho rounds on critics of Chelsea style
By Clare Lovell
HARLINGTON, England, Aug 20 (Reuters) - A prickly Jose Mourinho hit back at critics of his multi-million dollar Chelsea side's style on Friday, saying he deserved more respect.
"Some people are protected by their status as ex-players," the Portuguese manager said after a training session at the Premier League club's ground near Heathrow Airport.
"In the same way I'm a European champion and until a new European champion arrives...I think I deserve a little bit of respect."
Chelsea's new-look side, to which Mourinho has added more than 70 million pounds ($127.8 million) worth of players since he took over in June, were criticised in the British press for defensive tactics after going 1-0 up 15 minutes into their match against Manchester United last Sunday.
"We are in a free country. Everybody has his opinion and everybody can write or say what they want," said Mourinho, who won the UEFA Cup and Champions League in successive seasons with Porto.
"But my personality is not open to being influenced by critics," he said, adding he was lucky to have arrived as a successful manager because it enabled him to withstand criticism.
Mourinho said he would adapt his tactics to the opposition but had had little opportunity to prepare his side for Saturday's match at Birmingham City because several players had been away on international duty this week.
PREPARATION BY VIDEO
Most of Chelsea's first team squad are internationals, playing for 14 different countries.
"They arrived back just in time to recover to play tomorrow," he said. "Next week they go for two international matches so I won't have them for 12 days -- after that I have to play (Aston) Villa and then Champions League," he said.
Most of the preparation for Birmingham, where Chelsea winger and defender Jesper Gronkjaer and Mario Melchiot transferred last month, had been done by watching videos of their performances, he said.
Striker Mikael Forsell, on loan from Chelsea to City, was not eligible to play.
Chelsea will be without Netherlands midfielder Arjen Robben, who injured an ankle during the side's pre-season U.S. tour, and Adrian Mutu, who received a knock after scoring for Romania in Wednesday's 2-1 World Cup qualifying victory over Finland.
Mourinho watched another Chelsea striker, Eidur Gudjohnsen, score for Iceland in their shock friendly victory over Italy.
The Chelsea manager said he planned to get to know the international coaches of his players by paying visits during matches over the next few months.
"We have something in common -- the players. I want to know everything about them when they are there (at internationals) and it is important the coaches know everything about my players," he
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