Jose Mourinho writes a weekly column entitled 'Hotel Chelsea' for the Portuguese sports daily 'Record'.

In this section read a translated summary of Mourinho's fascinating insights.

31 December 2005

Boxing Day thrills

Boxing Day was not short on excitement. Goals, mistakes, controversy, thrashings, tactical battles, full stadiums. What I asked my players to do, I understood that my rival managers had asked the same: “Forget that you have to play four matches in eight days.”

Fulham came to Stamford Bridge like all teams. They all change their set-up, adapt, think of a different strategy.

They switched from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 with a closed diamond, and helped by a gift from Petr Cech they fought to the end for a point. It was a hard match for the referee - who happens to be one of the very best - Graham Poll, who missed two penalties. One for us at the start of the second half, another against us when John Terry tried to block a shot. Boa Morte (pictured), like a good Portuguese, only saw the second, but didn’t see Knight’s handball. As ever against Chelsea, he played superbly.

At Liverpool Gerrard showed that his status gets him off the hook: a double aggression within five seconds and not even a yellow card. Sky Sports, which showed Essien’s aggression on Hamman for a whole week, cyclically every 30 minutes, this time decided it would be a waste of time to worry about replays. Essien suspended, Gerrard ignored.

Korean curiosity

Kim Dong-Hyun has signed for Braga and I’ll be looking on with interest. We played in Seoul at the end of last season against the champions Bluewings, also sponsored by Samsung, and Kim Dong-Hyun impressed me. Physically strong, a key player in the centre of attack, he holds the ball well, sets up goals, is powerful in the air, and I liked him a lot.

His adaptation to Europe and to a beautiful city but one which cannot be compared to Seoul, to the food, language, football, makes him an unknown quantity. But there’s no doubting the potential of the player. I’m curious to see how things turn out, and because of his gamble on Portugal, I’ll be rooting for his success.

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