Jose Mourinho says keeping his galaxy of stars happy is crucial to Chelsea's success.
Jose Mourinho says keeping his galaxy of stars happy, despite his rotation policy, is crucial to Chelsea's eventual success this season.The Blues experienced dissent within their ranks earlier in the season as Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho blasted Mourinho's decision to drop him, whilst Dutch star Arjen Robben has also voiced his doubts over his manager's approach.
Stamford Bridge plays home to the most talented squad with the deepest reserves in the English top flight, but Roman Abramovich's millions have created something of a double edged sword with full internationals often left to fret on the bench.
However, Mourinho's ruthless treatment of Carvalho has ensured that further dissent is not forthcoming, and the club have reiterated the importance of not criticising the club in public to their stars.
After quelling the growing discontent Mourinho says he fully recognises that he must keep the squad fresh if he is to recreate the strong team spirit that drove The Blues on to Premiership glory last season.
"It is crucial," said Mourinho. "Good players want to win championships and good teams win with this mentality.
"Of course I have to work on it, I can't let players lose their confidence or commitment or lose their link to the group.
"I cannot leave a player 10, 12, 14 consecutive games without playing.
"I have to rotate to make people happy, ideally I would like everyone to be happy.
"They all want to play and that's not easy, only 11 can do it.
"But we will be in four competitions at the same time and everyone plays."
