Jose Mourinho plays down Carneiro/Fearn controversy in first press conference since incident

There's no prizes for guessing the hottest topic when Jose Mourinho met the media ahead of Chelsea's trip to Manchester City this weekend.

The Blues manager preempted the interest in the controversy that emerged after he publicly scolded his medical team for attending to Eden Hazard late on in Chelsea's 2-2 draw with Swansea on Saturday evening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hexJNEhh-QM Mourinho opened his pre-match press conference this afternoon with a prepared statement addressing the matter which read.

"Look, I hope this room is full because the champions will be playing against the former champions, because we have hopefully a big match on Sunday. "But I knew it already. It is not a surprise. No question. I don’t want to run away from it. I accept the question, and understand. "First of all, I want to say I have a fantastic medical led by Dr Paco Biosca, more than a dozen professionals, have a very good relation with them and as they tell me all the time, they were never praised so much as in last few years. I praise them lots of times. "We have disagreements during this period, we need disagreements to improve. We work together. "Your question about the bench. For some people it’s important. For others, it’s not... It’s my decision

"Dr Jon Fearn and Dr Eva Carneiro will not be on the bench, but doesn’t mean for rest of season.

"I have seven assistants, only four can go on the bench. We have four kitmen, only one can come out. Important to be on the bench for some, for others is more important what they do, their contribution, what they do for the good of the team. "I don't want to run away from the question. Jon Fearne and Carneiro will not be on the bench. They will not be on the bench on Sunday, it is my decision, my responsibility, but that does not mean it will be that way in the future. "If you want to discuss football I am here, if you don't I am not."

Mourinho says hasn't discussed situation with players. "The only thing they have to be worried about his having best around them..."

— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) August 14, 2015

Find Mourinho absolutely bizarre. He's banning Carneiro and Fearn from the bench for a bit but 'doesn't mean whole season'. — Alex Shaw (@AlexShawESPN) August 14, 2015

Mourinho excelling himself here. Last week, comes out blames medical staff. This week, anyone who wants to ask about that can leave.

— Tom Peck (@tompeck) August 14, 2015

Mourinho says you need disagreements to improve. No word yet on his thoughts on publicly throwing expertly-trained colleagues under the bus. — Daniel Storey (@danielstorey85) August 14, 2015

Clever from Mourinho. He’s talked about it without talking about it, and apologised without apologising. Now it’s time to move on.

— Jamie Reid (@JamieRfootball) August 14, 2015