We've had a poor pre-season in terms of results, but at least we have been able to keep clear of major injuries. Looks like Joe Cole may have damaged knee ligaments and that is going to be a huge blow to Chelsea - will leave them threadbare in the wings with only two recognizable wingers (Wright-Phillips and injury-prone Robben). If you ask me, I think it is great news for us...
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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho fears Joe Cole may have damaged knee ligaments in their 1-0 defeat to the MLS All-Stars.
The England winger was only on the pitch for five second-half minutes before leaving the action clutching his right knee.
And Mourinho is concerned one of his key men could miss a large part of the forthcoming campaign.
'That's a real problem,' he said. 'If you tell me there is no problem with Joe Cole and we lose 10-0 then that is better.
'The problem today is that we don't want injuries, especially in pre-season.
'Joe Cole is injured but I am not a doctor and I don't want to speak too much about it because it's not my job.
'But everybody is worried because I think it's something to do with his knee ligaments.
'We will have to wait until we go back to London to see the specialist but he looks really injured.
'It's a problem because he is a big player for us. He was only on for five minutes but he gave a lot to the game during that time.
'You could see his quality as a player. He is a player that I need but don't have.'
William Gallas, who failed to turn up for pre-season training in Los Angeles, will meet up with his team-mates again in London on Monday despite murmurs from his representative that the want-away French defender is keen to move to Arsenal.
Mourinho said: 'I don't know his agent and I have not spoken to him. My job is about the players and not agents.'
The former Porto boss felt a draw would have been a fairer result against the All-Stars, who won courtesy of a Dwayne de Rosario goal, but admitted his players were tired and well short of match fitness.
Mourinho added: 'The team in better condition would have won this game.
'They were faster, sharper than us and they were able to play a high tempo game against a team that tired and were slow.
'They were ready for the 90 minutes but for us it was difficult for some players to play 45 minutes.
'The result was not a surprise for me. I always want a better result and better performance but I am not surprised.
'We haven't been training too long. We haven't been in the training camp long enough to recover from the World Cup.
'We have trained for a week and others have been training for two-and-a-half weeks.
'There are going to be consequences of hard work but I tried to give everybody 45 minutes to give them a chance to play.
'Some players were almost walking and couldn't change speed so the consequences were natural.
'A draw would have been a fair result. We trained twice a day with real intensity in LA and the players haven't recovered from that.
'We knew it was going to be difficult against a fit team.'
Andriy Shevchenko had an unproductive debut for the Blues. He said afterwards:
'This is only our first game and we are still getting ready. 'But we expect to win our league championship this year.'
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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho fears Joe Cole may have damaged knee ligaments in their 1-0 defeat to the MLS All-Stars.
The England winger was only on the pitch for five second-half minutes before leaving the action clutching his right knee.
And Mourinho is concerned one of his key men could miss a large part of the forthcoming campaign.
'That's a real problem,' he said. 'If you tell me there is no problem with Joe Cole and we lose 10-0 then that is better.
'The problem today is that we don't want injuries, especially in pre-season.
'Joe Cole is injured but I am not a doctor and I don't want to speak too much about it because it's not my job.
'But everybody is worried because I think it's something to do with his knee ligaments.
'We will have to wait until we go back to London to see the specialist but he looks really injured.
'It's a problem because he is a big player for us. He was only on for five minutes but he gave a lot to the game during that time.
'You could see his quality as a player. He is a player that I need but don't have.'
William Gallas, who failed to turn up for pre-season training in Los Angeles, will meet up with his team-mates again in London on Monday despite murmurs from his representative that the want-away French defender is keen to move to Arsenal.
Mourinho said: 'I don't know his agent and I have not spoken to him. My job is about the players and not agents.'
The former Porto boss felt a draw would have been a fairer result against the All-Stars, who won courtesy of a Dwayne de Rosario goal, but admitted his players were tired and well short of match fitness.
Mourinho added: 'The team in better condition would have won this game.
'They were faster, sharper than us and they were able to play a high tempo game against a team that tired and were slow.
'They were ready for the 90 minutes but for us it was difficult for some players to play 45 minutes.
'The result was not a surprise for me. I always want a better result and better performance but I am not surprised.
'We haven't been training too long. We haven't been in the training camp long enough to recover from the World Cup.
'We have trained for a week and others have been training for two-and-a-half weeks.
'There are going to be consequences of hard work but I tried to give everybody 45 minutes to give them a chance to play.
'Some players were almost walking and couldn't change speed so the consequences were natural.
'A draw would have been a fair result. We trained twice a day with real intensity in LA and the players haven't recovered from that.
'We knew it was going to be difficult against a fit team.'
Andriy Shevchenko had an unproductive debut for the Blues. He said afterwards:
'This is only our first game and we are still getting ready. 'But we expect to win our league championship this year.'
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