Jose Mourinho has dismissed Tim Sherwood's assertion that Manchester City are the best team in the world and claims Manuel Pellegrini's are "lucky".

Tottenham boss Sherwood was full of praise for City following their 5-1 demolition of Spurs on Wednesday evening, but Mourinho, who takes his Chelsea side to the Etihad on Monday night, says the Premier League leaders will find their true level in the Champions League.

"Maybe, for the Tottenham manager, the planet is England," said Mourinho. "You will see (how good City are) in the Champions League. You will see in a couple of months."

Mourinho said City have benefitted from some game-changing decisions in recent weeks.

"They are lucky," he said. "The reality is they have many crucial decisions in their favour.

"Against Liverpool, the (Raheem) Sterling 'goal'. The penalty on (Luis) Suarez. Against Newcastle the goal that is a clear goal.

"Against Tottenham, (Michael) Dawson's goal, the penalty, the (Danny Rose) red card. They are having everything. I repeat, because I don't want to be misinterpreted, (it is) just pure coincidence.

"The referees, they try to do their best and sometimes they make mistakes and normally during the season the mistakes are split between teams.

"In their (City's) case, they have everything in their favour," added Mourinho, who insists his side are not yet ready to win the title.

"Next pre-season, day one, I will say we are candidates to win the Premier League. This season, the speech is we are candidates to win the next match. It doesn't matter where, it doesn't matter the opponent.

"We're just trying to win. I tell you now, before Man City... I will tell you before the Newcastle game next week, and then West Brom. I will repeat this."

Source : Skysport.

Not really surprised, typical interview from Mourinho before a big game, putting pressure in refs and blaming the rival. In his mind all his rivals are helped :).
Very harsh about Sherwood, thats why i put Mourinhos words in silly football.

oh come on, I know like everyone else that he is an outstanding manager, but saying he is a genius for how he talks to the press and how much drama he stirs up is pushing it a little don't you think ?

@KH I have to agree with you and to be extremely honest here, the only thing I didn't like about Mourinho during his first spell at Chelsea was his arrogance. I hate arrogant people. But, I respect him as a manager who knows what he is doing and he is the type of manager I want us to stick with. We've all seen how many managers we sacked after him.. It was very annoying to me. The only thing that makes my mouth shut about his arrogance is his results and achievements. and I can totally understand how annoying that is for other clubs fans and managers. Some call it arrogance others call it confidence.

Arrogance and confidence is VERY different things Alex.

^I didn't say it's the same thing.

@Alex Its understandable, im not blaming you for loving him. He is amazing and has no limit about everything that makes his team win, even if its not fair play. He likes to influence refs, putting pressure on them, its comparable for me to fooling refs by players. Thats not fair play at all, but sometimes it helps you to win.
I cant blame any fan from loving Young, Suarez, Pepe, Busquets... I know how useful they are and how they love their clubs. We just need all to see things objectively, saying Suarez is a disgrace and Mourinho, a genius is simply biaised.
Thankfully Alex, you are objective, we can discuss but many Chelsea fans talk a lot about other teams mistakes, but seem blind while its from Chelsea.

There was only that one time in my whole 30 years I talked about a club in bad manner because of anger and it wasn't long time ago, but that was it. I usually respect all the other clubs especially in their most bad moments, because if you want someone to respect your club you should respect theirs first because your bad moment will come eventually.

IF all of you watch actual press conference , you will find out that he was simply answering questions of journalists. The way article is written , it shows him bitter and angry. Either way , I agree with him , because there have been plenty of crucial decisions that helped City get their three points . Is not it why Dany Rose red card appeal was approved ? Many fans were insisting he did deserve red card but apparently FA thinks otherwise and still has some sense of justice .

As far as Mourinho being arrogant . It seems like it but I think he is just too confident and too straightforward . Some people can pull it off having such personality. I am sure he is way more different than we get the image about him from media. I keep saying Mourinho will be same icon as Muhammad Ali is to boxing . He will be remembered AS greatest. He says : he is best and he proves just like Ali used to do . Ali was also called arrogant and noisy and people hatted him , but he was recognized as greatest before he even retired. Just like you all hate Jose Mourinho right now , he will in the end be praised if not recognized as greatest but be placed among them all greats . Just like for example some great players in football were arrogant, but now praised and loved . To name few famous of top of my head : Pele ,Beckenbauer, Marodona , Johan Cruyff , Roy Keane , Patrice Veira and etc . They all had incredible amount of confidence . Arrogant person to me is who can't back up what he claims . It is like those girls at the club that think they are princess compare to all woman and no man driving 10 k car can phuck them , but in fact they are 1 pound hoes who get loose after few drinks . So to me This players can back up what they claim and that is not arrogant to me . They have this incredible aura surrounding them that makes you want to like them once you know more about their bio and off the pitch activities .

In the end guys just be honest to yourselves , but EPL got so much more fun when he came back ! IF Sir Alex stayed it would have been even twice better . English media was jeezing from happiness that Jose was coming back to EPL , because Jose makes headlines . Jose brings whole worlds attention to EPL when he gives interviews or makes headlines . That is how big this man has become .

arsene wenger should learn a lot from jose mourinho. wenger is good, but arsenal are becoming a joke club. bought an injured player to cover for an injured player? like seriously? and i can see we will finish this season without a single fu*king trophy again

^ just have faith

@Alex If you mean CL elimination, everybody is waiting for Barça to get knocked out, its not done yet. And if we lose, we will just end up an incredible record of 7 semi-finals in a row. Everybody went crazy on us last year, and no one said anything. I can accept the defeat with fair play, will not cry after the end of the game, why others cant do that ?
You are not the only one, many here specially in England love to hate Barça, and would be happy to see them loose. we can have a year without trophy for once, where is the problem ?

I didnt disrespect any team, did I ? If its true that was not my intension or at least was not to hurt somebody feelings...

Look at Marcus comment, thats what im talking about. He spent time hating on Suarez for his behaviour and praise Mourinho for his work. An objective guy will like them both, or hate them both.
Both are exceptional in their way of working, and both are bad losers and anti fair-play.

@tiki

I don't think I ever hated on Suarez ...?

and how is Mourinho anti-football ? You starting to sound like Xavi in his bitter interview :))))

I'm really not sure how Mourinho being an obvious wind-up merchant in the media compares to overt cheating and a disregard for the rules of football.

Mourinho is a provocateur; a very good one, in fact. It's why most of the English press and fans loved him when he first arrived. He was like a breath of fresh air compared to, say, Wenger, who took himself FAR too seriously, and was boring. Mourinho made the whole thing fun, and he continues to do so, this second time around.

Of course, we all now KNOW what he's up to, which doesn't necessarily spoil the entertainment, but, it also doesn't warrant a wholesale defense of his words from anyone, either. We all know what Mouinrho is like. Many, such as myself, love him for it.

Seriously, guys. He said this because he knew the media would lap it up, and to try and ruffle Pellegrini's feathers. There's no need to outraged or offended by it, nor is there a reason to pretend it was some profound truth, either.

Let's just all sit back with a bowl of popcorn instead.

@Tiki_taka Good morning mate, I was talking in general and not about you. Sorry I should have mentioned that... my bad.. :))

Sorry Alex, i went off topic here :) I just understood that you were not talking to me :). Look im used to be attacked about my ideas, and i clearly missunderstood the sense of your point who was a nice point indeed ;).
I was asleep, now i cant understand why i interpreted it that way :) Just forget about it.

It's all good mate, I just thumbed up my own comment by mistake lol I'm sleepy too. I'm watching Arsenal match at the moment if you have time to watch it I'm on TalkRoom now :)

@lodatz , +1

@Alex Talking about the talkroom, it never worked for me. I thought it was a location problem. Do French FR users have the same problem ?