Individual Focus Worries Mourinho

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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has bemoaned the increasing attention on individual players rather than teams within football.

The Portuguese boss's side are seven points clear at the top of the Premier League table with eight games to play and Mourinho is now on course to win his third English title with the west London club.

"In this moment football is losing a little bit the concept of the team to focus more on the individual," Mourinho said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.

"We are always looking at the individual performance, the individual stat, the player that runs more. Because you run 11km in a game and I run nine you did a better job than I did? Maybe not! Maybe my 9km were more important than your 11."

Known as a master manipulator, Mourinho accepted there was "something of Machiavelli in my comments" but said it was important for all those involved in football to retain a sense of perspective.

"I am passionate about football, of course. But for us professionals, if it means everything, we are in trouble.

"How can you compare a football player, a football manager with a scientist, a doctor? You cannot compare.

"I agree that sometimes I can have something of Machiavelli in some of my comments, but no more than that. Not at all."

He added: "I think I have a problem, which is I'm getting better at everything related to my job since I started. I feel better and better.

"But there is one point where I cannot change: when I face the media, I am never a hypocrite."

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